Speed Limit
by Shadow-Cipher
Summary: A young girl named Rissa Halcott lives a rather boring life - that is until unknown events bring the battle between Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman spiraling into her own hometown of Station Square. Unlike Chris, however, Rissa has her fascinated eyes set on a far more evil role model, and she'll do anything to get on his good side.
1. Chapter 1

Earth, a planet rich in many natural resources and a vibrant of array of weird and wonderful life forms. To those living upon its surface, Earth might not have seemed like anything too special, and mayhap its true that there may be fancier planets drifting among the stars far above, but there is still no denying Earth itself is vibrant and lively. For centuries, humans have walked the surface of this planet, conquering the other native species, establishing an iron fist over its resources, and bending her form to their will. They were dominating, controlling, and very much fancied themselves as the dominant species. As time passed, though, Earth itself became a dull facet for humans, and they began to look to the stars, to see if somewhere beyond the world our eyes could see, another world lingered. Why did humans want other planets? Was it to conquer, to destroy, or simply to gaze with wonder and ponder what could be? To each human, their interest in the possibility of worlds and lives beyond had differing logic. Some humans, however, instead pondered the possibility of a world a little closer to ours, a world that lived and thrived directly on top of us, unseen, unheard, but always there within the shadows of our very own dimension. One of the biggest questions about other worlds, however, is what kind of creatures live there. Would they be identical to us? Would they be an intelligent variant on one of our own Earthen species. Such speculations hardly contained any means to give credibility to them, and with no ways to commune to worlds beyond, humans were left to their wild imaginations, to make the worlds beyond whatever their little hearts wanted them to be, and within the human mind, perhaps we have grown universes more complex than the one we already live in. Still, the idea of another world communing with our own is a fascinating concept, but when two different lifestyles collide, sometimes the results can be downright chaotic.

When the school-bell suddenly blared in the ears of the many high school students nestled within the chairs, what was once a relatively quiet room burst into chaotic anarchy. Students of all shapes and sizes threw themselves eagerly from their seats as they hustled to collect their belongings and rush to the sweet arms of freedom outside the classroom.

Near the back of the room hovered a young teenage girl with lustrous long brown hair, and her jade eyes hesitantly rose at the sound of the bell blaring. She kept quietly to herself, observing the many students racing from the room, the friends meeting up with one another eagerly to discuss plans for the upcoming break. It was no different for this girl, as she too had been pondering what to make of such freedoms. She observed with silence the many students tearing through the room, hands hovered almost defensively over her belongings, as though she believed one of the other students might race to her and snatch her belongings right from beneath her grasp.

This girl wasn't expecting anyone to race up and greet her, however. The students among this class were strangers to her, a number of foreign entities she knew the names of and not much else. She greatly disliked the large crowds swarming near the front of the class, all the talking and yammering – it was too much for her mind.

Sometimes she would watch the crowds and wonder what it was like to be a part of them. To her, the idea of being surrounded by people all vying for your attention was strange, and it didn't feel in her mind to be a pleasant experience. The idea of being unable to escape from the grasping fingers and prying eyes of so many different people was jarring. Yet, it seemed to appeal to so many others, and those were the people she wondered about – what it felt like to be them. What did it feel like to be crowded and like it? How could one reap joy from such a chaotic encounter? It was clearly possible, but to her, it felt like something you were either born with, or you weren't, and she definitely wasn't. Her shy temperament and dry humour made her somewhat of an enigma among the other students, and sometimes she wondered if they looked upon her like some kind of curious wild animal, something foreign and bizarre to them.

"Rissa?" called a soft voice from the front of the classroom.

The young girl's eyes darted forward, her attention swiftly caught by the sound of her name. Standing at the front of the classroom was none other than the teacher of this particular class, a dashing middle-aged man with soft auburn hair and beaming blue eyes stealthily peeking out from behind his glasses. His gaze was as gentle as his words, and it seemed as though he harbored no ill intent behind his tone. He was stood behind his desk, the palms of his hand placed flat upon its surface.

"Yes, Mr. Ozawa?" Rissa asked with a confused ring to her voice, uncertain of why her teacher wished to grasp her attention after the class had already been dismissed. A slightly flustered flicker to her eyes, she scrambled to throw her books under her arms and her bag upon her back as she made to the teacher's desk, curious what he wanted.

Clearly aware of her haste, Mr. Ozawa cautioned with a small hum, "Please, do be careful not to drop your belongings all over the floor. Slow down."

Nervously, Rissa chuckled, the teacher bringing to her attention the unneeded haste of her actions. She felt a little silly as he called her out on it, and those very words drew attention to just how close she was to dropping her things. Still, Rissa disliked the idea of keeping the teacher waiting too long.

"Did I do something wrong, Mr. Ozawa?" Rissa nervously asked, books securely tucked underneath her arms where they would not easily fall to the ground.

With a subtle shake of the head, Mr. Ozawa hummed, "Not at all. Quite the opposite, actually."

"Pardon?" Rissa asked with a tilt of the head.

"I don't know what you possibly could have done to believe I am disappointed in you, Rissa" Mr. Ozawa seemed particularly happy as he spoke with his student, but behind the smile on his face, she could sense there was some level of – what would she even call it; concern? Whatever it was, it exuded a negative aura, and while it was not hostile negativity, she could feel its cold fingers grasping at the air nonetheless. So it wasn't too jarring to Rissa when the smile faded from the teacher's face, replaced with a more serious tone as he now hazarded an opening to say, "I am simply worried about how distanced you are from the rest of the class."

Rissa was hesitant. "What do you mean?" She knew very well what he meant. That was the most redundant question that had ever come out of her mouth, and even as she spoke the words, she was swallowed by the sheer ridiculous nature of it.

The teacher was very blunt – not rude, and quite far from it in fact; just... blunt. "You go to great lengths to avoid contact with other students in my class," Mr. Ozawa stated. "Now, I am not certain of how you get along with other classrooms, but I simply find myself worried for the well-being of a student when they spend so much time alone, quietly watching the other students from the background."

He had noticed. Of course he did. This wasn't the first time Rissa hovered in the background while the students flocked to the exit, and being called out on it surely wouldn't make it her last.

With a shake of the head, Rissa replied, "Please, don't worry about it, Mr. Ozawa. My companions lie in another part of the school, is all. I simply choose not to partake in encounters that would be... awkward for me." She nervously continued. "I would hardly wish to intrude on the conversations of other friends uninvited, and you'll find its easier to wait for the crowds to clear out than it is to try and sneak through a private conversation and overhear something you weren't intended to. After all, is it not rude to intrude on a conversation you are not a part of."

Mr. Ozawa's face seemed to convey a wide spectrum of emotions all at once, from bemusement to amazement. "That is very polite of you, but I implore you to seek openings to make new companions. Nobody can truly be alone in this world. Even those who prefer to avoid crowds still need an ally. Always remember that."

"I know!" Rissa beamed with a smile. "I hope to find that companion one day, but much like finding the perfect pet, sometimes you gotta take things slowly and wait for the answer to come to you. Best to wait and find the best pet for you than to rush things and get an animal you were ill-prepared for."

"That is true," Mr. Ozawa hummed, seemingly comfortable with her reply. "As long as you are not holding yourself back. I would greatly dislike if one of my students were purposely holding themselves back."

Rissa confidently replied, "Not holdings myself back, sir, just waiting patiently for the right time."

Mr. Ozawa returned now with a simple, "That is a brilliant mentality, then." With a small wave of the hand, he added, "Now, don't let me hold you back. I'm sure you've got places to be."

She didn't, but the vote of confidence was very kind of him, and Rissa didn't have it in her heart to shoot him down and tell him otherwise, so with a vibrant grin and a wave of the hand, Rissa called, "Thank you! Have a good break, Mr. Ozawa!"

"You too," returned her teacher with a polite bow of the head.

\- - - - -

The air outside was cool and damp, but the warming rays of the sun that danced and flitted through the clouds assured that feeling was not too intense. To Rissa, the moist vapours of the air felt good upon her skin, and she felt herself glowing from inside at the very sensation. As she hovered in the school yard, her eyes gazed upon the figures of the kids rushing off in various direction. Some moved slowly, chatting away with companions as they departed down the sidewalks. Other hovered in place, patiently waiting for companions or a ride or simply chatting one another up. Some even rushed eagerly to vehicles, clambering in before racing off. Rissa shook her head as she noticed a small group of particularly excited teens rambunctiously speeding off in a brightly coloured vehicle, moving at speeds definitely far above the limits of the road. She never understood why some people bothered speeding around like that – after all, Station Square was probably one of the last places you'd get away with speeding in. On rare occasions, she had caught sight of the Speed Team unit of the police department tearing apart the streets in pursuit of local street racers. They were swift and efficient. If those teens made a scene, they were surely to be hunted down.

Rissa kept to herself as she casually strolled off the premises of the high school and down the sidewalk. It wasn't long before she found herself isolated from the many voices of the students and instead greeted by the regular city sounds – passing cars, honking horns, all the normal things one would expect to hear in the city. It wasn't exactly peaceful, but it was a step up from the crowded school grounds. The cars were simply fixated on getting to their destination and the other people along the sidewalk were far too concerned with their own agenda to concern themselves over a lone teenage girl for any longer than the half second it might've taken to dart around her.

She wasn't exactly a huge fan of the big city, but having been born and raised in Station Square, she at least found herself adapting to it over time. Still, she longed for a home far away from all this anarchy, a place where she could quietly nestle down with a few close companions, maybe a couple pets, and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Assuming she had any companions.

Rissa felt her heart sink for a moment, and though it was quite brief, that sinking sensation still hurt. It seemed as though time made it more and more difficult for the girl to connect with other people. It wasn't that she didn't have friends, but more that she didn't have close and trusted friends. To her, the people she buddied up with were casual acquaintances, people she would give a friendly wave to if they gave her one back, people she would willingly chat with if they started a conversation with her, but not someone she was comfortable with inviting into her home – though with further consideration, she realized that might have been a poor comparative example to make, given her home wasn't the most welcoming place for new faces in the first place. It was seldom welcoming to those who lived within its walls.

Being a new face and walking into her home for the first time was like accidentally walking in on two people having an argument over something personally important to them, but trivial sounding and meaningless to you. It was awkward, and anything you could add would either be insultingly out of context or not in the same tone as the rest of the encounter.

Suffice to say that Rissa sort of fell out of touch with her friends over time, simply because of a sensation of being nothing more than a third wheel riding the coattails of a more successful friendship. She appreciated being welcomed into the circle, but there came a point where she felt she had overstayed that welcome, and would idly slip off unnoticed in an effort to avoid being too pushy. Part of her didn't mind it, though. After all, at least the sentiment had still been there.

The walk through the city to her home was a lengthy, but relatively peaceful one. It might have been uneventful, but that wasn't to say Rissa disliked the idea of peacefully walking home without anything particularly exciting to relay of her journey. It wasn't too long before her home popped into her line of sight. It was a modest little house, but she much preferred living in a regular home on the edges of the city than within a towering apartment complex lost among the streets and the bustle of all the other buildings fighting for sky space around them. To her, this quaint little one story bungalow nestled on a small hill was an improvement over that any day.

Rissa exhaled as she opened the small wooden gate along the sidewalk and slipped through it, making her way towards the home. She silently darted up the steps leading to the house. Unsurprisingly she came to find the front door was still not locked, an occurrence she was so familiar with that she often times found herself just reaching for the door without even bothering to consider it might be locked. Every once in a blue moon she would be forced to dig through her pockets and fish out a set of keys, but in most cases, this was hardly necessary. Today was no different, for as she snatched the handle up and tilted it on its side, the door willingly allowed her entry into the house.

She was immediately greeted by the sounds of the television as she walked in the front door, turned up to a level that might've been just a tad too high for her liking. She tried to figure out what exactly was being watched, and she almost recognized a newscaster voice before a sudden tonal shift indicated a changing channel. The tone changed instantly again, and she quickly realized whoever was watching the television clearly had no concern for what channel they actually cared to stop on.

So, likely her father, then. Her mother was a little more taken to just sticking on one channel and walking away to get some chores done.

"I'm home!" Rissa called out clearly, knowing she was unlikely to receive a reaction, but still opting to do so anyways.

As though to contradict her statement, a jingling sound echoed throughout the house, clearly moving swiftly towards her. She tilted her head a little as she heard the noise, fully aware of what it was, but still acting as though she had no idea.

Around the corner abruptly came a small, mostly brown dog, who promptly skidded on the tile floor and slammed into a nearby wall. Undeterred by this minor set back, the frizzly-haired dog gathered its bearing quickly and raced to meet Rissa, long white tail wiggling excitedly back and forth. The dog was a messy looking little pup, head, tail and paws covered with messy black and white fur. She lowered herself to the dog's level, placing her hand upon its bare brown skin and stroking it gently. The little dog's ears perked up with excitement, and it quickly rolled over on its back to expose a speckled pink and brown belly, which Rissa promptly rubbed as though they had come to a silent agreement with each other over it.

"Hi there, Orion! How are you doing, boy?" Rissa greeted the wild looking dog with a big smile on her face.

Ecstatic over hearing his own name, Orion leaped to his feet, his little fluffy paws dancing upon the tile below, tail lashing back and forth in glee. The canine threw its tiny body at Rissa, paws upon her chest in an attempt to keep himself held up, tongue desperately battling to lick his owner's face.

Rissa smiled. "I missed you too, buddy."

Orion threw himself to the floor now, nearly tripping over his paws as he did so. The little canine spun himself in circles, a curious maneuver to grab Rissa's attention and keep her eyes locked on him. It was painfully clear he wanted something of her, even if that something was just her general attention and nothing else. His collar jangled as he pranced about in a desperate attempt to keep Rissa's eyes locked on him.

"So that's why Ry ran off," a voice hummed from nearby.

Rissa glanced up to see her mother hovering in the doorway. It was quite clear from her mother's slightly messy blonde hair and dirt covered clothing that she had been spending the day in the backyard again.

Orion wagged his tail and pranced in place as he spotted another person, his eyes aglow from the excitement of their being twice the people to interact with.

Rissa chuckled, "Sorry about that."

Her mother, however, merely shook her head. "Oh, no, it's quite fine. I was just worried about Ry getting into the cupboard again. He figured out that's where I store his treats and he just won't leave well enough alone" As if he knew he were being talked about, Orion sat down in place with a huff and cutely tilted his head to the side. "If it wouldn't be too much to ask, since you're already here, would you mind taking Ry for a walk? You know he won't last very long."

Orion barked. He knew the word "walk" quite well.

Rissa was more than open to the idea of taking her dog out for a short walk. "I'd love to," Rissa responded simply, turning her attention now to the little dog sitting at her feet. "Orion? Wanna go for a walk?" Orion's ears lifted and he barked shrilly, a clear indication that Rissa didn't even need to ask that question. The little pup skittered exuberantly through the hallway and into the kitchen, his tail wagging as he held his paws against the wall and stared hopefully at the hook his leash was hanging off of. As Rissa followed him into the kitchen, he looked back, eyes aglow as his owner drew near. Several shrill barks filled the air.

The television in the living room grew louder too.

Rissa ignored the sudden increase in television volume as she brought down the leash, which caused her dog to spin about in glee. She tried to hold the little fellow on the spot as she clipped the leash on to his collar, and as he tried without much avail to pull her towards the door, she was suddenly glad she had a small dog with the strength of a baby gerbil. No matter how hard Orion tried, he completely failed in dragging his owner any closer to the door, but he certainly seemed excited when he tugged and suddenly gained distance, if only because his owner was now moving towards the door as well.

As Rissa exited out the front door alongside her dog, she heard the words "Please turn down the volume on the television." come from her mother's mouth. She was outside before she heard the rest of that encounter.

Thankfully, the outdoor air offered a welcoming and peaceful aura to her and the young pup, and a warm smile crossed her face as she felt a gently tug against the leash. She glanced down, watching as Orion tried with all his might to speed up this walk, to harness the power contained within to drag his owner to places never explored before. Suffice to say it didn't do much, but the little one certainly was trying, and Rissa couldn't fault him for his enthusiasm.

Walks with Orion trended on the shorter side, as the little frizzled fellow would tire himself out quickly from his constant failed attempts to drag her forward and his overly eager excitement towards literally everything – squirrels, other people, trash being blown by the wind... he loved it all, and he was quick to try and rush for everything he saw as interesting.

Orion's ears lifted with fascination as he spotted one of those infamous pieces of trash, a stray gust of wind causing it to dance past his line of sight. He barked shrilly, tail lashing back and forth excitedly as a foreign burger wrapper blew past, getting caught against a phone pole and flapping awkwardly in place. Rissa felt the small tug as the dog tried everything in his power to convince his owner to let him investigate this exciting new discovery.

Rissa chuckled. "Ry, it's a burger wrapper. It doesn't do anything."

Orion glanced up at her, barking sharply as is to argue with her over the usefulness of the wrapper. In truth, Orion was likely just acknowledging his name, but Rissa found it amusing to think that he was having a conversation with her.

"I swear on my life it doesn't do anything interesting. The burger is already in someone elses stomach," Rissa returned to the dog, acting as though he was speaking with her.

If Orion did truly understand her, though, he was stubbornly set on reaching that burger wrapper and proving to his owner just how wrong she truly was about its level of excitement. He snapped at the air several times as he tried to forced his way closer, when suddenly a second burst of wind managed to jiggle the wrapper around the edge of the phone pole and send it billowing down the street in the opposite direction. Orion watched with longing eyes as the wrapper left him, and it was almost a forlorn look, as if a long-trusted friend had just walked out of his life. Orion glanced back up at Rissa with bright eyes, issuing a single bark to her as though to question what just happened.

"It's gone, bud. It ain't coming back," Rissa chuckled, looking down at her dog. "Don't worry, you didn't need that wrapper in your life anyways."

Orion didn't really understand what he meant, but the eye contact the two of them steadily held and the gently voice of his owner was good enough for him, so he barked happily at her nonetheless, tail slowly trailing back and forth.

Rissa chuckled, "That's my boy. Now, let's get going. We still got some distance left to this walk before its over." Orion barked at her once more.

The two of them turned away from the telephone pole, ready to continue their walk to admittedly nowhere. The breeze had kicked back up a little, gentle winds darting through both Rissa's hair and her dog's patches of fur. Orion trotted blissfully across the sidewalk, paws seemingly dancing with glee as he took a couple proud steps ahead of his owner, eyes searching the world beyond for more unheard of wonders – or more burger wrappers.

"Hey, Rissa!" a voice howled abruptly.

She lifted her head, checking to see who was vying for her attention. She spotted a man waving his hand at her, a slightly taller man with short, thick brown hair, and the beginnings of a mustache to match. He was dressed in a bright green shirt with torn jeans to match, a wore a dirty looking cap upon his head. She smiled as she recognized the man from her history class. He was a little more quirky sort, and tended to be a little on the nervous side at times, but she found his quirky nature charming, and it was a pleasant surprise to see him around these parts, especially given his family lived a little further in the city anyways. If he was out in these parts, he almost certainly had to be looking for her.

He seemed a little tired as he ran up to her, exhaling loudly as he stopped in front of her, looking as though he had just run a marathon. "I'm glad I finally caught up to you. I went looking for you at your house, but your mom said you took your dog for a walk, and I've been –"

"Hey, no need to make excuses. What d'ya need, Louis?" Rissa tried to help get him to breathe a little bit, hazarding interrupting him in hopes it might distract him for a minute.

Louis's eyes lit up a little, and Rissa smiled as she noted peace and serenity seemed to be glowing within the cores of those two blue orbs. "O-Oh, sorry," Louis laughed nervously. "I was just worried I wouldn't catch up with you."

Rissa smiled, humming, "Well, you got me, so no need to worry. I'm not gonna run off on you." She was admittedly curious what he wanted, but wasn't in the habit of rushing him to get the information. So instead she waited, waited as Louis leaned over to greet Orion, running his hand across the pup's head multiple times as he greeted the elated canine.

"So, I know this might be a little sudden, but would you like to go to the beach this weekend? My brother invited a few of his friends as well, and I thought you might enjoy getting a chance to – you know – get out and breathe some fresh air." Louis was muttering over his words a little, almost as if he were required to keep talking or he might lose the attention of the person he was speaking with. "I mean, I understand if you don't want to, but I don't know many people to invite and I just thought that maybe–"

"I'd love to," Rissa interrupted him, realizing he was just going to keep rambling on about whatever came to his mind unless someone stepped in and cleared things up a little.

"R-Really?" Louis excitedly asked, his eyes aglow.

Not being one to pass up the chance for a witty retort, Rissa smirked a little and replied, "No, of course not. I don't know why you thought I'd ever wanna go to the beach with my friends of staying home and listening to my parents debate over which channel the television should stay on."

The sarcasm translated to Louis, as the glow of excitement in his eyes didn't falter as she spoke. If anything, that excitement now combined with amusement too, and he laughed a little as she finished her simple comeback. "Yeah, I know you have a lot of fun listening to them change the channel every five seconds."

"Highlight of my day," Rissa chuckled.

Louis was beaming now. "Awesome! It's tomorrow at exactly noon. We're going to Emerald Coast. Do you need my mom to come pick you up?"

"Oh, no, I'll just ask my dad to get up off the couch and drive me to an event he's not going to," Rissa retorted playfully, flashing a grin at Louis.

"Alright, I'll tell my mom you need a ride. We'll come over around – say half past eleven. That alright?" Louis responded, recognizing on a whim that Rissa was definitely going to be needing a ride to the beach.

Rissa nodded, "Sounds good."

Louis was absolutely filled with elation at the thought of going to the beach with his friends, and while Rissa didn't show it quite as vividly, she was inwardly happy to know she'd be doing something with herself this weekend after all. "Uh, you don't have to bring sunscreen or food or anything – my mom prepares all that. I mean, unless you wanna bring your own drink or like–"

Rissa interrupted his rambling again, saying, "I think I'll figure it all out. There are lots of concession stands on Emerald coast anyways." Louis was seemingly thankfully as Rissa confirmed this wasn't nearly as troublesome as he was making it out to be. "I'll just pocket a little extra cash and everything will be cool."

"Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow, then!" Louis beamed as he turned on his heel, waving to Rissa and he began dashing off back towards his home.

Hoping he would hear her as he dashed off, Rissa yowled loudly, "See you then!" The figure of her friend vanished around a corner mere seconds after she called out to him, and she glanced down to Orion as things seemingly hit a stand-still thereafter. The little dog was staring at her, his eyes brimming with curiosity. "Looks like I'm going to Emerald Coast tomorrow. I haven't been there for a couple years now." He bent down next to the little pup, stroking his messy fur as he wiggled his tail in excitement. "Don't worry, pal, I'll make sure you get to go for a walk that day. I wouldn't let a trip to the beach stop me from that." Orion didn't understand, but he certainly barked like he did. "Alright, boy, let's get heading home."

Orion strutted ahead as his owner began heading home once more, tail wagging as the two of them began to make their way down the street and back towards the home from where they came.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning sun dotted the landscape of Station Square, awakening its inhabitants with its charming glow. People young and old began preparing for their days, whether their plans be to race outside and greet the sun with a friendly wave or to remain indoors and simply relax. Rissa had been absolutely no exception. When she awoke, she wasted no time in preparing herself for the events ahead, knocking morning routines out of the way, gathering the things she would need for her trip to the beach, and even just waking herself up a little more.

She drifted from room to room eagerly, barely paying much heed to those around her. So when she finally took a moment to stop and breathe, to gather her surroundings, she was shocked to see how much time had already passed. Granted the morning was still young, but Rissa was seldom used to the time flying by so fast, being a more casual soul herself. She tilted her head away from the clock as it confirmed that she would not have missed her ride and crossed through the kitchen the wash out the milk-filled bowl from the cereal she had opted to have this morning.

An exhale arose from beside her as she poured the excess milk down the drain, and she tilted her head to catch sight of her mother standing alongside her, a small frown on her face. "Why do you even bother putting milk in your cereal if you're just going to dump it all down the drain?" She spoke with a small chuckle, though, so it clearly didn't bother her as much as she initially made it sound.

Rissa turned her gaze back to the sink as she rinsed out the bowl, answering, "You know I don't like milk on its own. But I can't exactly put soda or tea in my cereal."

With a small laugh, her mother replied, "Well, technically you could if you wanted to."

"That sounds absolutely disgusting," Rissa responded as she kept at her task. "Though I'm sure there's someone on the internet who has done that and insists its the best thing ever."

"The internet is weird," her mother mulled.

As she finished cleaning the bowl, moving it to the drying rack resting on the counter alongside the sink, Rissa mused, "A lot of things are weird. You just go with the flow." She turned to leave the room now, though was unable to make it too far.

"So where are you off to today?" called her mother, stopping her in her tracks before she could round the corner. It was as thought her words were a speed bump, a speed bump that had admittedly caught poor Rissa a little off guard.

Rissa halted in the doorway, turning back to face her mother with an admittedly confused expression locked on her face. She could've sworn she had told her mother about it the other day. She knew she had neglected to tell her father – as he simply wouldn't care either way what she was doing long as it wasn't blocking the television screen – but she had sworn she had told her mother. Unless the forgetful woman simply dismissed it by sheer accident, which wasn't exactly outside the realm of possibility, all things considering.

"I thought I told you yesterday," Rissa hummed.

Her mother tilted her head just the slightest bit as she replied, "You might've." She then added, "Let's just pretend you didn't and bring me up to speed now."

"Louis and his family are going to Emerald Coast today and he invited me to come along with them," Rissa explained to her, keeping it short as to avoid over-complicating a basic answer.

Of course, her mother provided the over-complication instead. "Ohh! The beach! I haven't been to Emerald Coast in years. Does your bathing suit still fit? Do you have sun screen? Are they bringing snacks or did you pack some snack money? Do you need a –"

Rissa was getting overwhelmed by all the questions, so she lifted her hands in hopes to silence the bombardment of questions and said, "Mom, I got it all under control. I sorta organized everything I was gonna do this morning in my head last night. I'll be fine."

"You sure?" her mother asked, a small concerned hum to her voice.

"Of course," Rissa replied cheerfully. "I wouldn't let a trip like this go to waste just because I forgot something small. I went over all this stuff with Orion on the walk home."

Her mother chuckled, "Ry is a good listener, isn't he?"

"Which reminds me. I won't be able to take Orion on his morning walk, but I promised him I'd take him on a walk this afternoon to make up for it." Rissa explained, realizing it sounded kind of silly that she was making promises like this to a little dog who likely only understood maybe five words that came out of her mouth total.

"That's fine. Go have fun with your friends." It was rare for her mother to be particularly bothered by anything she heard, and this seemed like no exception.

Rissa leaned a little on the doorway as she added, "Louis's parents are giving me a ride, so you don't need to worry about anything."

"Oh, wonderful!" her mother hummed. "And thank you for cleaning your bowl of milk before going – I wish you had just drank the milk and not poured it down the drain, but I'll take what I can get."

Rissa couldn't help but chuckle a little, and as she headed out of the room, she answered, "No problem, mom."

Rissa passed through the living room without comment, passing her father by as he lounged in the exact same seat he was in the other day, flipping through channels on the television with a tired huff. He barely seemed with it this morning, and she knew he wasn't the most pleasant person to talk to when he was tired. Granted, he wasn't fun to talk to in general, but when he was tired, conversations rarely made any headway at all. Nonetheless, as she passed through the room, her father seemed entirely disinterested in speaking with her anyways, and didn't so much as huff in her general direction. He barely glanced, and Rissa wasn't exactly too disappointed by this prospect.

She picked up a small bag she had left by the door, a bag no larger than a purse. She had stuffed a few things she thought she might need for the trip inside, and while forgetting it wouldn't have been the end of the world, she would've preferred not to, especially knowing her mother would make jokes about it if she saw it and realized what it was for. Not hostile jokes, but Rissa didn't exactly wanna give her a reason to take jabs at it nonetheless.

As Rissa passed through the front door, she called in, "I'll be back around four! See you!"

"Bye!" her mother called back blissfully. Her father might've grunted. If he had, though, the television had been too loud for her to clearly hear it.

Rissa sat the small bag alongside her as she took a seat on the first step she came across on the front porch. Her mother hadn't sat the chairs up front yet, and Rissa doubted they would appear there anytime soon. They were likely lost somewhere in the outdoor shed, which was an absolute nightmare to find anything inside. It was packed to the brim with useless trinkets, old pieces and parts from things that would never be fixed, and boxes for items nobody even owned anymore. Suffice to say digging things out of there was seldom in anyone's interests. Sitting on the stairs was fine. Rissa kind of liked it, anyways.

She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there for, as she sort of lost track of time while quietly humming songs she fancied. Sooner or later, though, a minivan pulled up in front of her house, and from inside the vehicle, waved her friend Louis. Rissa climbed to her feet, picking up the purse and racing to the vehicle as the boy opened the door for her.

There were three other kids already seated in the back of the minivan alongside Louis, or rather behind him, as the other three had seemed to claim the back as their spot already. First was a male of slightly older age than Louis dressed in a ratty red t-shirt, quietly bopping his head back and forth as he was clearly more enamoured by whatever was on his headphones. Alongside him was a rather large male, seemingly a little older and definitely a lot stronger. He seemed to be eagerly chatting up the lone female sitting alongside him, a girl with bright blond hair and a happy smile on her face as she listened to him ramble on. Rissa recognized the male in red, at least, as that was Louis's older brother.

Rissa climbed in the vehicle, taking a seat alongside Louis. She cheerfully waved to Louis's older brother, who glanced up fleetingly and nodded his head, vaguely showing that he was indeed paying attention.

Louis pulled the door closed, allowing the vehicle to start moving again.

"Are those Mark's friends?" Rissa asked now, glancing to Louis.

Louis glanced into the backseat. "Yeah. That's Penny and that's Brody. Don't worry, they're both really nice people." Neither Penny nor Brody had taken notice that they were being spoken of, but given that the group in the backseat was clearly fixated on their own thoughts, Rissa didn't mind. At least she knew who they were now.

Louis and Rissa idly chatted on the short ride to the beach, discussing excitedly what they would do when they arrived, which wouldn't be long. In the middle of a discussion about their favourite flavour of ice cream, the car slowed to a halt in a large parking lot, nestling comfortably into an available space and good ways away from the beach itself. As Rissa glanced out the window, she was not surprised to see the parking lot jam packed with cars. Emerald Coast was a popular destination for citizens and tourists alike, and every day it seemed jam packed with people wanting to have some fun in the sun and enjoy the warm ocean waves. Today was hardly an exception. If anything, today the beach was especially populated, as high school kids alike were able to swarm there with friends and family.

"We're here!" Louis's mother called from the front seat, her husband already getting out of the vehicle with a stretch of the arms.

One by one the teens in the back seat got out, starting with Rissa and Louis and eventually ending with Penny, who was already moving to the trunk to gather some things she had left there. Brody followed Penny while Mark continued to stand in place alongside his brother, still listening to his music.

"We don't have to stand around here, you know," Louis said to Rissa, tilting his head to look at her as the others continued doing their own things.

Rissa tilted her head as she watched the others. Penny was carrying a small umbrella now and Brody followed behind with a large cooler in tow. "Seems like someone brought all the snacks."

Louis laughed, "Brody didn't over-pack. Penny did. He just helps her carry all the stuff."

"He got a thing for her?" Rissa asked.

Louis chuckled in amusement, responding, "It's really obvious, isn't it?" He smiled at first, but frowned as he noticed Rissa seemed a little uncomfortable. "You alright?"

Rissa tilted her head now. "Oh, I'm just a little hot, is all. The sun is really hitting down hard at this time of the day."

"Ah, ok!" Louis hummed, glad to see nothing major was wrong. "Let me check to see if there are any more umbrella in the back. Penny usually brings extras."

"She wouldn't mind me using one?" Rissa asked uncertainly.

Louis moved around the backside of the van, digging through the contents of the trunk, failing to look up as he answered, "Nah, she's really into sharing. Long as you don't insult her, she kinda just lets everyone use all her stuff." He handed Rissa a baby blue umbrella as he added, "Just don't purposely snap it in half and you'll be fine."

Rissa laughed as she accepted the umbrella. "Wasn't on my to-do list."

Rissa and Louis then began walking towards the beach, crossing the sand and finding a comfortable place to set up close to the water. Rissa nestled the umbrella into the sand, angling it so it would cast a shadow over the towel she had placed on the ground. She then took a seat with a satisfied exhale as Louis finished setting up alongside her.

Louis held out a small can of soda to Rissa thereafter. "Want some?"

Rissa smiled, "Oh, thanks!" She accepted the soda, noting the tag that dictated it was of a lemon-lime flavour. She wasted no time in cracking the can open, taking a sip of the ice cold liquid within with a happy smile.

For a while, Louis and Rissa simply relaxed on the beach, nestled on their towels in the sand and chatting about various subjects. Eventually they began to discuss whether or not they were going to get in the water soon, or if they should grab a snack first. After much debate, they finally settled on snacks first, and Louis skipped off with some money in tow to a nearby snack stand to grab a few things.

Rissa glanced over her shoulder, noting the sheer length of the concessions line. It wasn't shocking to her, but she knew it could be a while until Louis returned with their snacks. So she stood up after a couple minutes of staring at the line, moving closer to the gently dancing waves of the ocean. The water raced on the shore before retreating back from where it came, and Rissa inched closer and closer so that she could feel the warm water racing over her bare feet. Soon the water was going over her ankles too, and that's where she stopped, a smile upon her face as she let the ocean waves do what they did best.

"What in the world is that...?" someone asked.

A low murmur was erupting from within the water, and Rissa curiously tilted her head towards the crowd.

A group of people were murmuring among one another, several fingers pointed into the depths of the ocean. Rissa looked, seeing a small ripple traveling through the water, and ripple which rapidly increased in size as it neared the shore. The crowd was mumbling asking what it was. Several people were already leaving the water under claims that it must have been a shark, but for each person that left, five more stayed in and stared with uncertainty.

Whatever it might have been, it was clearly drawn to the masses of people on the beach. Soon the rippling movement ceased to move forward any longer, and the water calmed. Some more people lost interest and flocked away.

A lone beach ball bounced across the water's surface, halting relatively close to where the ripple had stopped. The owner of the ball ran for it, yelling "I'll get it!" as she drew closer to the ball's location.

The water spurned to life again, the rippling movement returning as a fierce churning that definitely could not have belonged to a shark. Rissa watched in curiosity. Even the owner of the ball stepped back in shock, not having the confidence to nab her ball back.

Suffice to say no one was expecting what revealed itself from the water. The water cascaded in every known direction as it parted to make way for a large white robot. The robot was easily twice the height of an average person, and Rissa gasped loudly, definitely not expecting to see something like that part the waves. As the large white robot made itself known, it knocked the beach ball away with its mere presence, and its singular eye fixated on the woman in front of it, who promptly yowled in terror and fled from the things once she realized what she was looking at.

The robot lifted an arm, droplets of water falling back into the ocean from where they came. Its arm was tipped with what seemed to be a large yellow missile, and as if to confirm this, it released the projectile upon the beach shore, hitting a lifeguard station and smashing it immediately to bits before recalling the shell back to it.

People screamed in terror as they realized the robot was hostile and the beach turned into complete anarchy as adults and children alike fled from the thing, running in every known direction in hopes of not being struck by its attacks.

Rissa too backed out of the water, frozen in both fear and amazement at what she was witnessing. Her brain howled at her to get the hell away from this thing, but her feet were locked in place, eyes staring upon the machine as it laid waste to everything on the beach. Rissa was locked in place as the robot stomped out of the water and on to the beach shore, now firing its missile-like arms upon the cars parked alongside the beach, smashing them all to bits without any trouble. At this point, Rissa was afraid to move, worried the thing might turn around and lock its gaze on her if it sensed movement behind it. So instead she remained still, hoping it might just continue to stomp past her as it continued its reign of destruction. Seldom few people were left on this part of the beach, the remaining people retreating to distance themselves from the destructive machine.

A vivid laugh echoed out from behind, and Rissa hazarded turning her head just enough to see who exactly found this all so oddly amusing. At first she saw nothing, but as she tilted her head back a little more, she came to see a strange orb-like vehicle floating above the ocean, inhabited by a larger man in full red with a thick mustache and a shimmery bald head.

Based on the confident expression he held, Rissa assumed her was the owner of the destructive robot, and as if to confirm her suspicions, he hummed, "Ah, I do love a day at the beach, but I think we've caused enough damage here. Let's get moving further into the city!"

Rissa was locked in place as the little vehicle hovered over her, its occupant fully unaware anyone was still nearby. She didn't make a peep as the vehicle seemingly hovered away, following the robot as it began trashing the city instead.

As the vehicle flew off, Rissa found herself overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions. She had seen robots in movies before, but never before had she been face to face with something of such grandeur scale before. In fact, a machine like that had always been nothing but the realm of imagination for her, and she had never assumed something like that would exist within her life time. She mused over who that man even was and how he had managed to construct something so impressive – assuming he was the one that even made it. Even the vehicle he flew in was impressive to her, and she watched and mused how it even stayed afloat. It seemingly hovered like a hummingbird, but need not flap any wings. Part of her was curious, even if it was masked by a layer of fear.

Rissa ran past the upturned umbrella that she had once been resting under. It was torn to bits, but given the situation, it was unlikely to owner would be too bothered by this. She dug through the sand, hoping that her bag had survived the attack.

Luckily, it had. As she pushed aside soggy clumps of sand, she came to find her small bag buried underneath of it, and while it was quickly filling with sand, its contents were still unharmed otherwise. Tossing the bag over her shoulder, she ran from the beach, going nearer the city, curiosity taking precedent over common sense and safety.

The path of destruction was easily laid out, and it wasn't hard to tell where the robot had gone from the city. She kept a distance as she trailed the path, stepping aside as people ran away from the machine. She rounded a corner, eyes aglow.

"Watch out!" a voice yowled.

Rissa didn't have time to look up as something bigger than her slammed into her, knocking her to the ground just in time for a large projectile to fly past, slamming into a parked vehicle and blasting it apart.

Rissa's heart was pounding as she realized what had happened, and she tilted her head to see the missile-like projectile returning to the robot that had fired it. Her eyes now turned to the person that her knocked her out of the way, an officer of the Station Square Police Department – a man noticeably large than her with a cold, serious glint in his eyes.

"What are you doing out here, citizen? You could've gotten yourself killed!" the officer reprimanded Rissa with a harsh ring to his voice, making it very clear he wanted to be taken seriously.

Rissa was struck by the fear, and began mumbling. "I-I'm sorry, I-I just –"

"There's no time for excuses right now. You shouldn't be here!" the officer huffed fiercely. "You are not to go deeper into the city until this thing is dealt with. Understand?"

Rissa wasn't used to being reprimanded by officers of the law, and the way she stared wide-eyed at him and shivered a little made that vividly clear. "I –"

An explosion echoed from nearby, and the officer tensed up as he heard it. He turned to her, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders, his eyes locked on hers. "Listen to me. That thing could badly hurt you if you go near it. Stay back, do not approach it. If you need to pass through the city to return to your home, hang back and we will assist you once the situation has cooled down. Do you understand me?"

"Ok," Rissa murmured, unable to formulate any further words.

Satisfied that she was finally cooperating, the officer turned back towards the chaos, drawing a weapon before running off to take on the robot. Rissa watched as he dashed off. She wanted to see what was happening badly, and she hazarded sneaking from behind so she could get just close enough to see the anarchy.

Multiple officers were lined up, weapons drawn, clearly prepared to take on the mechanical menace. But Rissa had to wonder if they were even be able to effectively damage the thing with conventional firearms. She held tight to the side of a building as she watched from a distance, eyes aglow.

The officer that had stopped Rissa was pointing its weapon at the robot, howling at it fiercely, "Hold it, machine! Cease this destruction this minute. You advance any further on this city and we will destroy you!"

The robot didn't seem at all bothered by this threat, and as if to challenge the very people who issued it, it confidently took a step forward, lifting its arm threateningly. The officers held true to their threats, unleashing a furious array of bullet at the robot. Just as Rissa assumed might happen, the bullet ricocheted off the shell of the machine, bouncing harmlessly to the ground as if they were made of nothing more than foam. Enraged by the complete failure of their assault, a different officer seemingly brandishes a flamethrower at the robot, unleashing a roaring inferno at it. Flames danced over the frame of the machine, dancing wildly into the sky as they sought to sear their target into nothingness.

Rissa had taken notice of the man in red high above once more, and she noticed he didn't seem too bothered by the assaults on his pet. Even as his robot was roasted by angry flames, he seemingly yawned in boredom. The robot shook itself out, and when the smoke cleared, it then became clear the flames had done pretty much nothing to the mechanical menace.

The man in red yawned in boredom. "Is that the best you can do? If that's all you have to offer, I advise you get out of the way before my robot annihilates you."

Rissa gasped as she heard one of the officers mutter the words, "We give up."

"So quick to attack, but so quick to surrender. Give them what's coming to them!" the man in red huffed with a seemingly disinterested yawn, snapping his fingers to catch the robot's attention.

The group of officers fled with yowls of terror as the robot attacked them with the missile-like projectile on its arm, and even Rissa found herself ducking around the corner as the local law enforcement fled in terror from the assault. Rissa kept her back pressed against the side of the building, both afraid of getting shot at herself and worried the officers might see she had followed them regardless. Soon they were out of sight, and Rissa peered around the corner just in time to see the hovering vehicle begin to float higher into the sky and the large robot smashing the front of a building out in order to follow him to the roof of that very building.

Another group of officers was already filing in, lead by the chief of police himself. A few leftover people were flocking from the building, fleeing to safety. A couple bolder people stayed close enough to observe, and Rissa hazarded joining the small crowd, assuming the police force wouldn't give her a second thought since she was no longer the only one around. A lone officer was trying to lead the small crowd to safety, but it was still within viewing distance of the anarchy, so Rissa allowed herself to be filed alongside the rest of the people.

She hadn't noticed the small camera flying into the sky, but it was impossible not to notice the enormous holographic screen that then filled the sky, consumed entirely by the image of the man ordering the robot around himself. She found herself impressed, once again assuming holographic technology was still a little outside of modern science's reach.

The man cleared his throat before he began speaking, "Hello there, and allow me to formally introduce myself to you all. My name is Dr. Eggman, and this lovely machine here is Missile Wrist. I find myself excited to announce to you all that I have decided to take over your world and make it part of the ever-growing Eggman Empire." His expression faltered a little. "Well, I guess it's exciting for me. Catastrophic for you, really, but oh well! Any resistance will be squashed, so you can either submit to my rule, or be blown away. Your choice!" He seemed to enjoy each word he spoke, merely amused by the idea of taking control of a city and making it his own. Each word was uttered with such a high level of confidence, such a ridiculous amount of certainty in his statement. This man seemed certain he would succeed.

A lone officer was trying to escort people away to safety now, one by one pointing them where they needed to be. Rissa pushed her way to the front of the crowd, hoping to remain unnoticed for a while longer, eager to see what was happening personally.

"Turn yourself in!" yowled the chief of police, and though he tried to sound confident, Rissa could hear the small twinge of fear in his voice. He felt outmatched. That was for sure.

"You have got to be kidding me?" mused Eggman, laughing back at the chief.

The chief of police kept firm, clearly hoping the uncertainty in his voice would not be clear. "We aren't joking around, buddy! You're breaking several laws here and we won't stand for it! Now get out of that thing and surrender it to us!"

This order seemed to offend Eggman a little, and he seemingly growled a little and he yelled, "I'm the one giving orders around here! Not you!"

The chief of police retorted back firmly, "What makes you think that, huh?"

Rissa felt a tap on her shoulder. It was the office that was escorting people away. In her thrill to listen to the conversation going on, she hadn't even noticed the rest of the crowd was now gone. She wanted nothing more than to look on and continue watching the exchange, but she knew there was no excuse she could give out that would convince them to let her stay in harm's way. So when the officer attempted to escort her away, she went with him without an argument. As he escorted her away, though, she heard a loud explosion echo out from nearby and managed to make out Eggman barking the demand that someone be brought to him as she was pulled to safety and out of range of the tense encounter.

Rissa was much too far away now to see or hear the exchange now, but her curiosity was strong and as she noticed helicopters circling overhead, the realized the news stations must be recording this exchange, so she hastened to find a store with a television monitor, finally managing to peg down an electronics store that was broadcasting the exchange on their television.

She wasn't sure what all she had missed. She wasn't even sure how long it had been since she had been escorted away from that scene. She had ran as fast as she could to find a monitor, but her legs were weak and her top speed was mediocre at best. By the time she located a television screen, she was shocked to find the cameras were now recording what seemed to be a battle, as someone – or rather a group of someones – was daring enough to take the man and his machine on. But the strangest part was who was battling the machine. She could describe them best as anthropomorphic animals of abnormal colours

The robot was holding tightly to what she could best describe as a pink hedgehog and standing in front of it was a rather angry looking red echidna. She was even keen enough to spot a biplane flying around in the background, and though she couldn't quite tell who was inside, she could tell by the twinge of orange at least one of the inhabitants was also some kind of animal.

The camera tilted to focus on a blue light speeding towards the building, and whatever it was moved at such ridiculously high screens it was nigh impossible to tell what it might be. Whatever it was, it was ready to take on the robot and it wasn't until it finally skidded to a halt that the camera recording it could focus on it. A blue hedgehog.

The hedgehog playfully taunted the robot as he leaped from the missiles it fired, and Rissa gasped as the robot shot its own wrist by sheer accident, clearly aiming for the speedy hedgehog instead. Seeing an opening, the hedgehog speeds towards the base of the robot, piercing through its thick shell.

An explosion reared from the machine and shards of metal collapsed to the ground as the hedgehog landed safely on the building, smirking in amusement.

The camera tilted to Eggman now, catching him mid sentence as he yelled, "You haven't heard the last of me, you blue menace! Soon the Emeralds will be mine and I'll rule this world, no, this universe!" The cameras tried to zoom on him as he fled, but abruptly, the broadcast was cut shockingly short.

Rissa wasn't sure what she had just witnessed, but it was as terrifying as it was exciting. It was a Saturday morning cartoon, heroes and villains taking jabs at each other, robots of grand might and super-powered animals going at each other. It was almost too much for her to comprehend at once. He brain was racing, her heart pumping, and she almost felt like she had imagined all of this. Luckily, she had plenty of time to consider everything she had just witnessed on the journey home. It was a long one, and the odds of finding a ride were slim. She wasn't even sure where her friends had run off to in the anarchy, and the local officers were clearly focused on other things.

So she began the long, arduous walk home herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Rissa wasn't entirely sure how long she had even been walking for. She had never even considered checking the time for a majority of the trip, and by the time the very concept crossed her mind, it would've meant little anyways, as she had little inkling to what time she had even began her walk home. She spent the entire walk deep in thought. She was worried about her friends, hoping they escaped the scene safely, that they weren't worried about her. She certainly wished them absolutely no ill will.

Of course, the thing that was most on her mind was quite obviously the strange fellow and his giant robot. So many thoughts raced through her mind, so many questions she could've never imagined she'd be asking herself within not the realm of a fictional show on television, but rather within her very own reality. Who exactly was this Dr. Eggman fellow and how had someone so technologically advanced seemingly appeared overnight? As ridiculous as the general idea of someone wishing to conquer the world itself was, it was even more ridiculous to believe someone like that was just silently hiding in the background for so long, especially given who seemed to oppose him – or rather, what. Bipedal animals capable of human thoughts and actions. The very notion was silly and she wouldn't have believed it had she not witnessed it herself.

She wouldn't have believed giant robots capable of ravaging cities were a reality unless she had almost been obliterated by one. Of course, she worried what a world so inferior to such powers would even do about it. Would higher powers be called in, and if so, would they even be capable of fighting back? So many questions raced through her mind, and the primary issue was, there was only one person who truly had the answers – maybe two – and neither Dr. Eggman nor that bipedal hedgehog would be easy to get answers out of.

She didn't even know where either of them lived, to begin.

After what felt like a painful eternity, the silhouette of her home cast a forlorn shadow over her, and she felt relief as her dwelling finally entered her line of sight. Despite knowing exactly where she was walking and fully knowing how very close she was to home, the sheer amount of time the walk home had taken had really done a number on her. She was beginning to think her own home didn't exist, which was a ridiculous notion.

Rissa reached for the doorknob – of course it was still unlocked – and stepped into her home. She tossed her sand-covered bag to the ground as a frenzied barking echoed through the house. It was only seconds before a little furry companion leaped to her side, paws on her knees and tail wagging.

"Rissa?" a voice called worriedly from the other room as soon as Orion began barking.

The young girl took a few moments to greet her excited and unworried dog first, stroking him on the head before glancing up to see her mother in the doorway. Her eyes were wide with worry, and it didn't exactly take a genius to figure out that news of the attack had clearly spread to her ears.

She ran up to Rissa now, scooping her up and holding her close for a few moments. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright! I heard about the news of the attack on the beach and I was so worried you might've been badly hurt."

Rissa could understand the concern. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Rissa reassured her mom, letting her finish the entire hug before stepping back. "I just had to walk all the way home on foot since the local authorities were too fixated on the anarchy going down in the city, that's all."

Her mother finally fully released her hold on her, thought the small vibration in her eyes indicated she wasn't exactly ready to separate fully from her daughter yet. It was evident the news report had really shaken her up, and it wasn't even as though she knew Rissa had quite literally been downtown to witness the destruction of the town firsthand. Looking back, she sort of preferred her mother didn't know about that.

"I can't believe something like that would happen. This place is usually so peaceful and something like that is just so..." She couldn't finish her thought. "I don't understand how a thing like that can be real."

Rissa noted her mother's hesitation to call the machine what it was – a robot. It was quite evident her mother wasn't ready to accept giant killer robots as a thing that existed yet, which was ironic given she would've assumed her mother would be more shocked by the humanoid animals. Possibly it was just because the animals probably weren't trying to kill anyone.

So Rissa, knowing her mother would never utter the word without prompting, said, "Yeah, that robot was definitely something else. It just came walking out of the ocean."

"I didn't think we had technology like that already," her mother muttered. "Giant robots capable of so much needless destruction."

With a small huff, Rissa added, "Its owner certainly didn't seem to think the destruction was needless. He seemed very confident that every dollar of property damage was for a clear cut purpose."

"Yeah, that..." Her mother couldn't get it out. She tried, but she failed utterly.

"Dr. Eggman," Rissa finished for her mother. "He passed right over me at the beach. Seemed to completely fail to even notice I was there."

"That man was at the beach too?" her mother inquired hastily.

Rissa shrugged. "He wasn't exactly sunbathing with his giant killer robot or anything. The robot climbed out of the ocean and started laying waste to the entire beach and he just showed up afterwards in his – and I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but it's what it is – hovercraft and just kinda mused in the destruction his creation was causing before sending it off into the city to create a giant scene. He followed it thereafter."

She saw her mother's scared facade break momentarily, likely in reaction to her initial statement. It was brief, but it was a momentary relief that showed her mother was willing to relax her mind. Nonetheless, it was still painfully evident her mother was very on edge about the entire incident, and for rather fair reason too.

Rissa hefted Orion off the floor, the little dog wiggling in pure excited, blissfully unaware of anything his owners were discussing. "I'm alright now, though, so there's no need to stress yourself out," Rissa began, taking a few steps towards her mother while clutching the undulating ball of joy in her arms. She offered the excited pup to her mother, saying with a smile, "Orion doesn't want you to be sad. He doesn't even know why you're sad."

Her mother smiled a little, claiming the small dog from her daughter's arms. Her mother held the pup close, her smiling widening a little as Orion eagerly licked her face. The dog might not have understood the problem at all, but he would be darned if he wasn't going to try his best to offer a solution to it nonetheless.

"How about we go watch a movie or something?" Rissa offered with a tilt of the head.

"Thanks," her mother exhaled. "I'd like that. Just, nothing with robots in it, please."

Rissa chuckled, "I think I can make that happen." She then proceeded into the living room, her mother and dog in tow.

~ ~ ~

Far off in another distant part of the city was a group of three bipedal animals, clearly uncertain of their location and quite evidently struggling to make their way. The group consisted of a pink-coated platypus dressed up in a black top and green pants with multiple metallic limb replacements, a lynx with luscious sky-blue fur wearing an orange shirt and baggy camouflage pants, and a large-winged grey moth wearing a small orange shirt and bright blue shorts to match. The group had stopped for a moment to attempt to discern their location, though it was obvious from their mere expressions alone that this wasn't exactly going well.

"Wh-Where even are we...?" the moth mumbled, his voice cracking a little and his body twitching nervously.

The lynx shook her head uncertainly. "I have no idea, unfortunately," she admitted. "This doesn't look like any corner of Mobius I'm familiar with. It's quite possible we may not even be on Mobius anymore."

"What!?" the moth gasped in shock, clearly not quite ready to accept that idea.

The platypus stepped up to the moth's side, brushing past his wings to offer him a small, consoling hug. "Hey, hey, it's alright," she offered in a gentle, soothing voice, giving him that very promised soft hug to help reassure him. "We'll be here by your side the entire time. We'll be here for you."

The lynx stepped forward as well. "Yeah, don't stress out over it. We aren't going to just abandon you in some strange place. If we truly are in another world entirely, then we'll find the answers together, and we'll make our way back home by each other's sides. Alright?"

The moth sniffled a little, nodding his head as he attempted to reaffirm himself that there was no need to panic. "Ok... thanks."

"No problem," the lynx hummed with a smile on her face.

"So if this truly is another world," the platypus began, stepping away from the moth and walking up alongside the lynx instead, "how exactly do you presume we ended up here? And if so, what kind of a world could we have even made our way to?"

"It's possible Chaos Control played some part in this," mused the lynx.

With a small exhale, the platypus mumbled, "I've never seen Chaos Control being used to transport through space itself, but given its manipulation of time, that idea wouldn't be too far fetched. However, if that were truly the case, then that might just mean we aren't the only ones that got dragged into its field of influence."

With a shake of the head, the lynx responded, "We couldn't have been. We weren't even the closest to Chaos Control when it was unleashed."

"Still, if Chaos Control really did allow us to travel through space, I couldn't begin to offer a solution to return. I wouldn't know if the Chaos Emeralds are around here, and even if we got our hands on them, none of us are capable of producing a power like Chaos Control." The platypus was clearly rambling at this point, but each word she got off her chest was important, and gave her ally something to think about.

"Certainly not, but at least it's something to think about," the lynx exhaled.

It was around this point the lynx felt a repeated jab in her side. It was not a particularly rough jab, but it was quite evident this was fraught with a strong desire to get her attention as soon as possible. "G-Guys, we got trouble..." the moth murmured, repeatedly prodding his feline ally.

Both the platypus and the lynx glanced up just in time to notice the fact that they were no longer alone. In front of them was an armed human dressed up in military clothes, and it wasn't long before his friends arrived, surrounding the group of animals and effectively trapping them. Each human was aiming some kind of firearm at the group, and it wasn't too long after grouping around the three that one of the men howled, "We have you surrounded! Surrender yourselves immediately, or we'll be forced to shoot!"

The moth roughly gripped the lynx by the side, shaking as he pressed himself against her.

The lynx wasted no time in holding her hands up, an action which the platypus proceeded to perform immediately thereafter. "I surrender!" the lynx called.

The moth was clearly terrified and obviously wasn't expecting either of them to give in so easily. "Wh-What are you doing...?"

"They're clearly the law around here. It won't do us any well to start a fight with the law," the lynx explained clearly. "We'll be alright, ok? I won't let any harm come to you, but fighting this wouldn't help us at all."

It was evident from the startled glisten flickering in the eyes of the moth that he still wasn't sure about this, but as he noticed the platypus too seemed to be fully surrendering herself to these armed individuals, he finally gave in as well, lifting up all four of his arms with a rough shiver.

The encounter from that point on was rushed, rather forceful and hasty. The group of animals were approached slowly and cautiously, as it was evident the humans clearly did not trust that these three animals would give themselves up so easily. Assault weapons were still fixated on the group as each member was individually cuffed and guided away into the armoured vehicles that were parked nearby. Even after they were cuffed, the humans still kept their weapons trained directly on the targets, clearly distrusting each and every step they took. The door to the armoured vehicle was slammed firmly shut behind the three of them and after several long moments and multiple murmurs heard from outside, the vehicle finally began moving with a rough jolt. The group had no idea where they were being taken to, but the lynx remained firm in her insistence that resistance would be a poor choice, insisting to each of her allies that they just remain calm, friendly, and welcoming. The lynx spent most of the ride reaffirming the moth that they would be safe, and the sheer amount of time she had been doing that had been lost to the ages.

It felt like ages before the vehicle finally jolted to a stop and remained that way. The moth had only managed to calm a little bit, and the concern flicking in his eyes was still evident.

The back door of the armoured vehicle was thrust open, and the trio of bipedal animals was once again welcomed by firearms being aimed directly at them. One by one they were roughly escorted from the back of the vehicle, transported through a strange and foreign building to a room equally as such.

They were guided into a room filled with more humans, though none of these were armed. The three animals were immediately looked upon in awe by multiple pairs of eyes, and it seemed as though every person within the room had dropped whatever they were doing to witness the strangers being escorted through. Even as the group were being contained within small glass cells, the eyes never let off them. The platypus and the moth had both already been confined to their own individual glass cells, and the lynx was presently being guided to hers when a man dressed up in full white lifted his hand and pointing to the lynx, demanding, "Not the cat. Bring it over here."

"I'm actually a lynx," the lynx politely corrected.

There was a hesitation from the soldier guiding her away from the cell, as well as a slight confused glisten to the eyes of the man who had insisted she be brought his way. This doubt was brief, though, and it wasn't long before movement returned once again.

She was brought to a large chair, a chair clearly not designed for comfort. The lynx was forced down into the seat itself, where her arms and legs were strapped firmly into place. She continued not to put up a fight, allowing the strangers to easily move her limbs into place and lock them down. It was becoming increasingly evident to her that this was definitely some kinda of government facility and it didn't take much longer for her to realize these humans clearly intended to study her and her friends. The humans silently murmured among themselves as they periodically glanced the lynx's direction. It was clear a lot of the people present were still quite uncomfortable with her existence.

"You don't need to be afraid of me or my friends," the lynx spoke up reassuringly. "If there's anything you need to know about us, you only have to ask."

This clearly wasn't what the humans were expecting, and multiple silent eyes locked on her figure as she politely offered up answers to their questions.

"My name is Baretta," she continued kindly. "And my friends over there are Harper – she's the platypus, and Grey – that's the moth."

Finally one of the humans had gained enough confidence to speak back to this strange talking animal, and he eyed Baretta, suspiciously asking, "What exactly are you?"

"I told you. I'm a lynx," Baretta confirmed.

The man shook his head, holding up a slim laptop and presenting her with a photograph of a quadruped feline. "No, this is a lynx, specifically the Eurasian lynx. Standing only on four legs, having a fur coat primarily of a brown or reddish brown, and communicating entirely in vocal sounds ranging from growls, wails, meows, and hisses. They do not speak in human tongues."

"Then lynxes here are clearly much different from where I come from, since I can promise you I am indeed a lynx," Baretta reassured them. "It's clear your kind is surprised that we can speak, but where I come from, speaking is a normal means of communication."

"As it is here... for humans," the man reaffirmed.

"Where is this place?" Baretta gently asked.

"That's classified," the man quickly stated.

"No, no, I don't mean specifically," Baretta stated, clarifying what exactly she was asking. "I meant, like, what's the name of the planet we're on?"

The man was clearly confused by the question, but seeing absolutely no reason not to affirm the planet name, he quietly stated, "Earth."

Realization hit Baretta suddenly, and her expression lit up, "So we did end up in another planet, then!"

"What are you talking about?" the man asked with a confused glisten in his eyes.

"We aren't a part of this planet. We come from a place called Mobius," Baretta stated. "It's rather strange that humans here appear to have evolved relatively the same, but animals are so vastly different. We don't even have that many humans on our planet. Where I come from, animals like myself and my friends are the norm." She was being silently stared at, and it was quite evident nobody really fully believed every word she was saying. Multiple pairs of eyes were locked on her, but even the man questioning her seemed to have fallen rather silent.

The silence was broken by a new face racing into the room, calling, "There has been a sighting of –"

"Not in front of the prisoners," a soldier in the background barked firmly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware we had prisoners in this room," the woman exhaled. She glanced at Baretta before tilting her attention Harper and Grey in the cells in the back. "We captured a few of them?"

"They surrendered," the soldier corrected. "The lynx has been particularly chatty since we brought her here, not that we have any way of knowing we can believe what she's saying."

The female exhaled, "Look, I know now isn't a good time or place, but he's been spotted making a move in the city." She emphasized the word 'he' quite firmly.

"Has he caused any further damage?" the soldier inquired.

"Strangely not this time. He seemed to be specifically seeking out a strange object found at a construction site and nothing more. We are uncertain if he was successful in obtaining this item or not, though it does appear the object is gone regardless. The reports mostly came in from worried civilians, so unfortunately we were unable to get a read on his location." The female was very blunt in explaining everything, though she went out of her way to be vague in describing certain concepts, and it was painfully evident to Baretta they were trying to make certain she was out of the loop.

The soldier huffed sharply, "Damn. Did the..." the soldier took a moment to glance at Baretta, realizing its possible that even a word as vague as hedgehog might stir her suspicion, "blue thing arrive on the scene."

"He was nowhere to be seen," she responded clearly.

"So no chance to contain him either. At least we have a pretty good idea of his location. Is the family he's staying with being monitored?" the soldier continued speaking clearly.

"We planted an agent in the school the child attends. He has been attending to the situation," the female answered.

"Good. At least we can make sure he doesn't get up to anything until we contain him. Still, we need to put a cap on you-know-who before he creates another scene like the one at Em– the beach." The soldier was clearly uncomfortable even mentioning Emerald Coast, despite the unlikelihood that Baretta would even know what that was. "National security could very well be at threat if we continue to allow him to get away with things like that. The people aren't going to feel safe in their own homes knowing at any point something like that thing could smash it to bits."

The female responded, "We're keeping an activate eye out for movement, as well as for more of those... objects."

The soldier huffed, "Good. We're going to see to his capture and assure these people they are safe under our eye."

Despite not knowing the specifics of their conversation, it wasn't exactly hard for Baretta to pick up the subtext of what they were discussing. These people were some level of government authority and they were clearly discussing protecting the general populace from an active threat. "Are you guys having trouble with something? We could help you, if you'd like. My friends and I are very familiar with dealing with active threats. Where we come from, it's very common for us to be attacked by giant killer robots."

The soldier briefly locked gazes with Baretta. Did she know something?

"Are you having a similar problem?" Baretta asked. "I'm well versed in robotics. I'm sure I could help you combat this threat. Where I come from, my job is very similar to yours."

The soldier now briefly glanced to his female ally, who could only shrug a little at his silent, questioning gaze. The two stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time, the male soldier clearly unwilling to accept a shrug.

"Is it possible you-know-who came from the same world as these animals?" she finally presented.

The soldier locked his gaze with Baretta's once again, his expression firm as he stepped up to her, staring straight into her eyes. "Are you at all familiar with the name Dr. Eggman?"

"So I was correct about other people being brought here too!" Baretta excitedly yowled. "I'm assuming the 'blue thing' you mentioned earlier was a hedgehog."

"How are you familiar with that information?" the soldier asked.

"Sonic the Hedgehog. He comes from Mobius as well," Baretta stated.

"So you're saying this Dr. Eggman is native to your world?" the soldier inquired.

Baretta replied, "Supposedly. He's been a major problem for the populace since before I was born. If Eggman is your problem, then you and I should be allies, not enemies."

"She seems to know quite a bit about this," the female stated.

"We don't have any way of knowing we can trust anything she says," the soldier grumbled in response. "Yes, she's been very forthcoming with her answers, but we can't confirm that this is true honesty and not just a deceitful ploy to trick us into trusting her words."

Baretta now interrupted the group, continuing to speak in a gentle and polite tone of voice, "I understand that it must be difficult to trust someone so foreign to your world, but I offer the assistance of both myself and my teammates out of the same obligations we lived by in our world – protecting the innocent from Eggman's crimes. We may not have identical opinions, you and I, but we share a common enemy here, and I would feel uncomfortable knowing he's out there causing distress to innocent people of any world. I'll do whatever it takes to get you to trust me, whatever is needed to help you believe not only I, but my friends, are on your side."

The female and her soldier ally kept their gazes locked on each other for a lengthy time, and though no words were exchanged allowed, a silent debate was still occurring.

"Pardon us," the soldier finally huffed, taking his female ally out of the room.

A lengthy while passed after the two exited, and it hardly took a genius to figure out a secret discussion was occurring just out of range of Baretta's ears. She was patient in awaiting their return, confident they would see things in her light. She kept her eyes locked on the door they had departed from, silently awaiting their return. Many of the people present in the room had slipped off to do their own thing long ago, clearly unnerved by the discussion that had been previously occurring in front of them. A lengthy while passed before the two returned.

Initially they did not acknowledge Baretta or her allies, but instead were still focused on each other. The soldier handed his ally two metallic bracelets, pointing back towards the glass cell, keeping a third one to himself. "Put these on those two and tell them what it is. Then bring them over here."

"Got it," the female nodded, heading towards the glass cells containing Grey and Harper.

The male approached Baretta now, silently placing the bracelet around her arm and firmly locking it in place. "That's an explosive device. Until we know we can fully trust you, this will be kept on you at all times. Should you reveal yourself as an enemy to us, we can and will remotely detonate it. If you are truly aiming to help us, then you have no reason to worry yourself." The restraints keeping Baretta in place were released after this was explained to her.

Baretta rose to her feet now, releasing a slight meowing sound as she stretched herself out. Despite not having been locked down in that seat all too long, she had already felt the stiffness begin to nestle in, and she was more than happy to be on her two feet once again. "I thank you for giving us a chance to prove ourselves. We promise not to let you down." As she spoke, the female brought Harper and Grey from behind, the same devices attached to their arms as well. It was evident they were already fully aware of the situation, but neither of them seemed too particularly bothered by it. Even Grey, who had been on edge the entire encounter, seemed to have eased up a little despite the fact that he was strapped with an explosive.

"I certainly hope not. Your kind are already stirring up a lot of concern around here, so we're taking a great risk trusting you like this," the soldier responded firmly.

"We would never seek to do you or anyone else any harm," Harper stated, nudging against Baretta a little bit.

"We'll do our best to help," Grey muttered, still a little shaky, but clearly having calmed noticeably since first arriving.

The soldier nodded at them, "Good. Welcome to the Guardian Unit of Nations. You can call me Dirk, and this is my partner, Topaz."


	4. Chapter 4

Some time had passed since Rissa had first learned of the existence of Dr. Eggman, and she hadn't been able to get that day out of her mind. She wasn't even sure what about that entire experience had truly stuck out to her – Dr. Eggman hadn't even glanced at her. It was likely he hadn't even noticed she existed period. Nonetheless, she couldn't stop pondering about the man in her head, about his supposed claim of world domination and about the vicious robot he had toted around the city. That strange machine was still locked in her mind, the scenes of it firing its missile-like projectiles off its wrists and obliterating structures with ease replaying over and over in her head.

Such a machine seemed almost too advanced to exist, and that single thought had erupted into a series of questions within her mind over time. It became less about the general consensus of whether or not humanity was even advanced enough to create such a weapon and more about the complex whys and hows. Had that man built that thing entirely alone? Did he have more of them? Most importantly of all, though, was that even his most impressive creation? It was certainly massive enough, but something within her mind argued that his behavior hadn't quite advertised it as the best he had to offer. As irritated as he had been over the loss of the machine, he seemed to act more akin to a person whose plans had been set back rather than entirely demolished, and were his ego truly as massive as he made it to be, surely he would've dedicated more than five seconds to showing the machine off.

Rissa was almost convinced of it. Not only was that robot probably not his most impressive creation, but it was highly possible that it didn't even rank among the best of the best.

That idea, that somehow that machine was of inferior might to others he might be holding on to both excited and terrified her, which was suspiciously how she felt about Dr. Eggman as well.

She hadn't brought him up since that day – at least not at home. It became quickly evident to her that her mother was wildly uncomfortable with the entire affair and her father was simply not conversational enough to discuss it. Attempts to do so usually ended in a rather bleak "I don't care" and absolutely nothing else.

So instead, Rissa thought about it on her own. She poured over the thoughts of what the ramifications of this man's grand scheme could be, and just how powerful he was. Of course, she hadn't neglected the bipedal animals. She spent hours both sitting in front of the TV and scrolling through various news sources on the internet in hopes that she'd bump into information on either, and much to her enjoyment, that was seldom challenging to do.

It was painfully evident from the articles and various stories on the local news station that this wasn't just two strangers taking jabs at each other – these were two people with a deep-rooted rivalry for one another, with Dr. Eggman painted as the villain and this bipedal hedgehog – Sonic, as she had noted the news calling him – being the hero. Dr. Eggman had made quite a spectacle of himself, and it was evident from the sheer quantity of news stories about his sightings around Station Square that he was at least some level of dedicated to proving he could take over the city.

Rissa had, of course, poured into the news stories about Sonic the Hedgehog, but it seemed to consist widely of videos of a blue blur speeding at unrealistically high speeds down roadways or the city outskirts and the local internet denizens toting wild conspiracy theories about where that hedgehog was probably living at. Nonetheless, the forums of the websites she enjoyed frequenting began to bring up Sonic more and more and while no one could seem to agree on whether or not they thought he was a good person, they did all seem wildly fascinated with him. He was gaining a digital audience, and people were pouring over the news about him, discussing him behind the scenes. Of course, she had heard discussions of these recent affairs offline as well, but the internet was infinitely more brazen about speaking out about him, asking questions, and sharing mostly low quality videos.

Admittedly, Rissa had poured over the outlets about Sonic as well, but while the idea of a bipedal animal with super-speed and human level intellect was fascinating, she often found herself tossing questions about his supposed rival out regularly, questions that were often ignored.

Rissa couldn't fool herself any longer; she couldn't lie to her own curious mind. Dr. Eggman fascinated her, and she wanted to understand him at the same level the world wanted to understand Sonic. She wasn't quite sure why she was so much more interested in him, but she simply couldn't deny any longer that she was.

This day was unlike any other for her, her mind curiously pondering over the intricacies of Dr. Eggman and his most recent public attack as she silently prepared a meal – though it was less of a prepared meal and more of a quick snack - for herself and feigned ignorance around her mother to avoid causing her undue stress.

Rissa took a bite of her sandwich as she crossed the kitchen, bothering not with a plate, napkin, or even anything else to eat alongside it. As she passed by the living room, the sound of the television once again greeted her, and she was hardly shocked to glance into the room and she her father nestled into his recliner, gaze locked on the screen. Curious and a trifle nosy, Rissa glanced to see what he was watching, finding it to be nothing more than a report on the weather. She was mere seconds from turning away in disinterest and returning to her room when a new voice on the television screen drew focus away from the weather.

"In other news, we have finally received a statement from the Guardian Unit of Nations regarding the recent attacks of Dr. Eggman."

That caught her attention, and Rissa quickly turned back and entered the living room, leaning against the wall. Her mother was nowhere to be seen and she was banking on the fact that her father wouldn't care enough to put forth the effort to pick up the remote he had sat down on the coffee table nearby. She was pleased to see thus far that he made no effort to shift in his seat, and reveled in that minor positive as she observed.

Two news anchors sat alongside one another, a male and a female, and as the male fixed the papers he was currently holding, the female took the initiative to speak. "It's not rare news anymore to hear of attacks from Dr. Eggman, but as of late, the residents of Station Square have begun to draw ire from the concern that the military should be protecting the safety and well being of the city. Many have attempted to send their complaints directly to the defense unit and until now, they have failed to respond to any attempts to contact them. However, as recent citizen ire has become too aggressive to ignore, the Guardian Unit of Nations has officially issued a statement over their stance on this position."

The male lowered his eyes to the paper within his hands, immediately reading off it without so much as a nod of the head from his co-anchor. "The Guardian Unit of Nations is aware of both the threat to national security Dr. Eggman is causing and the complaints the citizens have been filing. Up until recently, the Guardian Unit of Nations wished to avoid going public on this case, as the initial hope was that we could contain Dr. Eggman without needing to take extreme action. Unfortunately, recent affairs have made it clear that Dr. Eggman is a much larger threat than we initially thought, and we are going public to assure the citizens that their defense force will protect them at every turn. Though we can only share so much information with the public, please be aware that attempts to locate where Dr. Eggman is currently hiding out are in progress. The Guardian Unit of Nations does not encourage citizens go searching for his dwelling, but if they happen to find information of his whereabouts by accident, it absolutely should be reported as soon as possible. We are following patterns in Dr. Eggman's actions and are working to apprehend him once and for all."

The female spoke, "So as you can see, GUN is dedicating all of their time and knowledge to locating and arresting this man. They will make sure the streets of the city are safe."

"It is ill-advised that you viewers at home should attempt to make contact with Dr. Eggman. We here at News Channel 9, however, wish to help, and so if you viewers need to get information to GUN, we will assist in contacting them." the male explained. "It is our hope that we can see this city safe of the destructive acts that Dr. Eggman has committed upon this city."

Clearing her throat, the female began to add, "We are thankful–"

She paused as someone else walked on screen suddenly, drawing astonishment from both her and her co-anchor.

"You can't just–" the female began to cry.

The newcomer whispered in her ear, however, and she quickly silenced. Her co-anchor stared in curious wonder, clearly incapable of hearing what was being said.

"What?" She was responding to the newcomer's murmurings. "Now? Downtown? We can't say that." She exhaled. "This is already highly unprofessional." The stranger shook his head as he walked off screen. "Viewers, we're going to need to go to a commercial break real quick. We apologize for this inconvenience and will be back on air as soon as we can."

The male inquired, "What in the world is–" as the female made a subtle hand gesture and the show abruptly cut away into a commercial for laundry detergent.

Her father grumbled in annoyance as he watched the advertisement, but made seemingly no effort to change the channel. He was completely disinterested in what had just transpired, but Rissa's heart was beating in exhilaration.

Sure, what little they had broadcast was vague, but she didn't need a long-winded paragraph of information to get the implication. Just the way they had suddenly cut away after someone brought in new information alone was telling, and Rissa had a strong idea of what exactly it was telling of. Downtown. That was the important word, and she knew what it meant.

Dr. Eggman had been seen somewhere downtown. It had to be.

And this exited her. She slipped back into the kitchen ever so silently. This hadn't been the first time Rissa had trailed a supposed Eggman sighting, and it would far from be the last. Thus far, she had only arrived in time to see him fleeing the area, a fleeting sight of a most curious individual. She hadn't admitted it out loud yet – had barely admitted it in her head, even – but she wanted to speak with him. She knew everyone would think her insane for saying such a thing, but that didn't matter to her. Every single time she had arrived to see him flying off, and every time she had called out to him too late for him to even hear her, it had been a disappointing pang.

This was another chance to encounter him, and she cherished the hope that maybe, just maybe, this time would work out in her favour. She tossed her half-eaten sandwich in the trash before grabbing her phone off the counter and heading towards the back door. Orion was asleep, and thankfully as she opened the back door, he didn't bark or even awaken.

Rissa exhaled in relief as she left the home through the back, and she allowed her excitement to take control of every muscle in her body as she moved to sprint across the yard, only to be stopped dead in her tracks.

"Where are you off to with such excitement?" It was her mother.

Rissa turned to face her mother, seeing her kneeling near a bed of flowers holding a small spade. At least that answered Rissa's question about where her mother was at.

She didn't panic. Her mother had been outside and had no reason to suspect Rissa was attempting to do anything she wouldn't approve of. "Oh, hey mom. I didn't know you were out here."

"I'm clearing out the weeds, since your father refuses to do so," her mother replied in a soft voice. "Where are you going? I haven't seen you so excited in quite a while."

Rissa kept calm, formulating a convincing answer in her head. She knew her mother wouldn't question why she was leaving out the back door, as her father napped in the living room all the time. He'd sleep through the television, maybe the radio, but everything else was an instant awakening. So explaining the weird choice of exit wouldn't matter. No, she simply had to explain where she was going. "Oh, Louis just texted me and invited me to go out for ice cream with him. It's been so long since we last hung out."

Her mom smiled brightly, responding, "Oh! I'm so happy you two are finally spending time together again. I was worried you and him weren't friends anymore."

"No, no, we're totally fine. He was just really busy lately. I know this is kinda sudden, but he just texted me out of the blue, asking if I wanted to hang out," Rissa responded rather confidently, waving her hand dismissively at the idea that the affair at the beach had ruined her relationship with Louis.

"Oh, no, it's completely fine. You're more than old enough to make your own plans," her mother answered in the same gentle voice. "Do you need a ride?"

Rissa shook her head. "Nah, don't worry about it. He's hanging out at a nearby park and we thought we'd enjoy the fresh air and just walk down there together."

Her mother replied, "Oh, alright then. Go and have fun."

Rissa quickly responded, "Thanks, mom!" as she dashed across the back yard, opening the small gate and making her way out into the streets of Station Square.

Downtown wasn't too far from where she lived – no more than maybe a ten minute walk at best – but as Rissa began making this walk, the situation she had put herself in began to dawn on her. She was looking for one man in the entirety of downtown. Sure, he was a wanted criminal and probably would draw ire from the locals, but that didn't mean he was going to be easy to find. Downtown was huge, filled with lots of back alleys, dead end streets, and buildings that seemed to have lost their purpose ages ago. It was huge, and she realized that unless luck was on her side, finding him was going to be insanely difficult. She had one thing to go off, and it was the plan she had decided on as she walked into the section of town designated as downtown. Avoid people. Go where everyone else wasn't. That was where she had the highest odds of encountering him. She could think of many spots downtown that would just be quiet due to there being nothing of use around, but it was also possible that if people found him, they would flee and avoid where he was.

Then she worried. If people fled from him and caused a scene, would he just leave the area in an attempt to avoid drawing attention to himself? She had noticed that as much as he seemed to fancy the attention, that he did seem to go out of his way to avoid the citizens, probably to decrease the odds one of those bipedal animals would sprint to his location.

As she walked down one of the quieter streets and past a building with a "space for rent" sign in front of it, she took a moment to remember the last time the news had drawn attention to Eggman being active within the city. He had been attempting to steal some kind of jewel from a construction site, and had been rather brazen in his charge to retrieve that jewel. The reports of what the fate of the jewel was had been vague, but it seems implied that wherever that jewel might have ended up, it was not with Dr. Eggman.

That still mystified her, though. Why had he wanted a jewel? There had to be something special about it. Petty thievery hardly seemed to be his style, but the news reports surrounding Eggman's activity were often insanely vague as it was, the the televisions had been suffering from an interference around the time of that report, so it had been difficult to even hear the report in the first place.

She spent some time pondering this as she continued to wander into the various twists and turns of downtown, eventually reaching a point where she wasn't even sure if Dr. Eggman had been what the news was talking about anymore.

Maybe it was something entirely unrelated. Maybe it had nothing to do with Eggman, but if that had been the case, why didn't they just report it instead of making it sound like a cover up. That level of secrecy would only make people assume, especially given recent affairs, and yet, it seemed almost too quiet for a sighting that had apparently made it to the local news. While she admittedly hadn't seen another person in a while, the people she had passed didn't seem too stirred up. There were a few less than usual, but they seemed strangely relaxed.

Rissa sighed, beginning to think she was just wasting her time and energy sauntering around downtown for no reason. She began to consider just calling this attempt a failure and going home, and for the briefest of moments, she turned to look behind her solemnly, considering coming back form whence she came.

Then she spotted it.

There was movement behind her. Something or someone had rounded the corner of a large stone wall. Rissa took a moment to attempt to remember what exactly was past that wall, but her mind was drawing a relative blank, producing only the image of a chain link fence and nothing more. It was probably just local storage or something similar. Her heart thumped in her chest and this bleak glimmer of hope shined within her. It was a long shot, but she dashed in the direction of the stone wall, making her way behind it as well.

She was right. A tall chain link fence greeted her shortly after arriving. One single building was outside the fence, but the rest of them, as well as quite a lot of what appeared to be useless rubble, was behind it. Her heart sank, though, for she saw absolutely nothing here. She was certain she had seen someone enter the area, but she saw no one. She didn't even see a stray cat. It was just trash, dirt, and pebbles littering the floor.

Rissa refused to accept she had imagined that, however, and she pressed further into the area, scanning the fence for signs of damage just in case whoever had come here had already broken into the fenced in area.

She found no damage, but she was determined to push on, and thus she began to follow the fence from the outside of it, still scanning for damage, but also keeping an eye out for human activity. She placed her hand gently against the chains, rolling them over the surface in a way that mildly amused her as she scanned what was behind that chain link fence. There were several large buildings behind the fence, and while she still couldn't quite pin what they were, her mind assumed they were warehouses. The longer she looked at the place, the more she began to accept that this was probably some kind of scrapyard. Junk was all over the ground both inside and outside the fenced area, so she found the assumption some level of realistic. Rissa has circled half the fence without any action when she stopped suddenly, a sharp sound echoing into her ears. There had been a bang. It had sounded like someone shutting a door. She looked into the yard and saw absolutely nothing, but she knew what she had heard. Someone had been in there. Doors definitely didn't just close themselves. She needed to get in there and look.

Part of her hissed at her that attempting to enter this fenced in area was definitely illegal, and that part of her mind immediately drilled the fear of the potential risk of arrest deep into her mind. However, the other half of her mused that there was a ghost of a chance it might be Dr. Eggman himself, and as soon as that voice spoke up, she found the other one quickly silenced.

That fleeting hope that she might finally get a shot at getting to so much as look Dr. Eggman in the eye was enough to spur her to find a way inside.

Rissa didn't have a sharp object to cut the fence with, so her first instinct was to glance up and just hope the fence wasn't lined with barbed wire at the top. Much to her excitement, the fence was just ridiculously tall – easily over ten feet. The top of the fence was nothing out of the norm for a chain link fence, no more sharp or dangerous than the top of a standard backyard fence would be.

So as soon as she realized that climbing this fence was not only going to be possible, but rather easy, she found her body racing forward on its own, and she instinctively gripped the chains with her hands, pulling herself up on to the fence with a huff.

The fence clinked loudly and for several brief moments, it swayed awkwardly as it adjusted to the sudden introduction of her mass. She didn't let that dissuade her, however, and she didn't even wait for the awkward motion of the fence to cease before pulling herself up. Rissa was familiar with climbing things, and the increasing height of the fence did nothing but excite her as she pulled her weight closer and closer to the top. Eventually, Rissa was able to pull her weight over the top of the fence, and she held herself at the very top of the fence as she relished in the view for several moments. She couldn't remember the last time she had climbed something so tall, though whatever it had been, it probably hadn't been illegal to climb. She then glanced down below her for the briefest of moments. The ground below her was free of trash or scrap metal – just a few very small pebbles and quite a lot of dirt.

Then she jumped. She seemed confident in this lengthy fall, and as the young girl hit the ground, she rolled across the dirt. The delivery of the roll had been awkward, as she had essentially landed face first in dirt, but as she stood up and brushed herself off, she was more than satisfied to find she had successfully stuck the landing.

She took no more than a single step when she heard a loud creak. She immediately glanced up, her eyes quickly meeting with an unexpected sight. A pair of widened, but small purple eyes were looking back at her, but it was their owner that caught her attention – a robot. A skinny, tall, bright gold robot stared back at her from a distance. For a solid five seconds, the two locked gazes in total silence, but that silence was broken as the golden robot suddenly reacted with panic as it fled back into the building, yowling "Boss!" as it went.

Rissa's heart took off, and she bolted after the robot as it retreated inside the building. Her mind was racing with more thoughts than she could possibly articulate, but they all lead back to a single assumption, and she was going to chase that assumption like she had never chased anything before. She threw open the door the robot has fled back into, thrusting herself straight into the unknown.

"Boss, that girl is probably going to arrive here any min –" began the voice of the golden robot. It froze and locked eyes with her once more, pointing with a yelp at her. "Like that!"

Standing in front of her were three figures. The room was quite dark, and as such it hid a lot of the vivid detail of the room around her, but she could still make them out despite the piercing darkness. Two of them were mere machines, but the third one was Dr. Eggman himself. It wasn't hard to immediately recognize his visage, from the bright red outfit to the long, thick mustache – the very man that had caused the city so many problems was standing no more than ten feet away from her, staring straight at her, and it was at this moment she realized just how small she was in front of him.

The two silently stared at one another, and while to Rissa it had felt like the slowest stare-down of a life time, in all reality, they had probably not looked at each other for any more than two seconds.

Rissa's had never reached a point in her life where she could feel her heart pounding in her chest so aggressively. "Dr. Eggman..." Even those two words were exciting. Just hearing his name leave her mouth as she looked straight at him was like dedicating to throw yourself out of a plane and sky dive. She hadn't thought this encounter would even happen, and she was so struck with awe and wonder that she hadn't even noticed Eggman had drawn a weapon.

The shot scraped her side, but for that brief moment she could feel the burn as it grazed her skin and scorched it with even the briefest touch. The singular shot lit up the room a bit. A laser weapon – he legitimately had laser weapons.

She was both afraid and excited, and the realization hit her that Dr. Eggman probably had no way of knowing that she wasn't in any way, shape, or form a threat to whatever he had been doing in such a place. The two had never properly met, and at this point she probably looked like a witness that was going to report him to the local law enforcement, which realistically explained why he was suddenly taking pot shots at her.

"Wait! I'm not –" Rissa began.

He was definitely in defensive mode now, and her attempts to tell him that she simply wished to speak with him fell on deaf ears as Eggman failed to even let her finish her sentence. Rissa threw herself out of the way out the next shot, collapsing awkwardly on the ground as it struck the wall behind her harmlessly.

She attempted to climb back to her feet, two more shots whizzing dangerously close to her, only missing by sheer luck. Her luck ran out quickly, as her brain was maladjusted to a situation like this, and seeing the shimmering glow of the second shot flying past her head caused her to stop and turn around to watch it cascade into the wall, and she instantly paid the price as she felt a sharp burning sensation in her backside. The sheer force of the shot threw her to the ground, and she yowled loudly as she hit the floor hard.

Rissa was on the ground now, and not in a position where even if she had any combat skills, she could even hypothetically be a threat.

Eggman fled now.

Rissa glanced up just in time to see him quite literally blowing the wall apart to create a path he could use to escape. The room lit up brightly as the explosion was set off, a jarring, heavy boom rattling her ears. She lowered her head instantly, keeping her face near the ground and protecting her eyes from the flying debris as the wall was blown apart. She could feel tiny fragments of metal whizzing past her, a brief, but frightening experience.

She glanced back up just in time to see his backside as he fled out of the path he had created for himself.

It's at this point most people would decide this was far too dangerous , that they should give up this notion and move on, but Rissa found her heart was still pounding with excitement as she watched him escape. She wanted nothing more than to stand up and give chase, and she had made an attempt that was quickly shut down by the sharp, burning pain in her backside. Her left collarbone felt like it was on fire, and she winced sharply as the pain hit her.

She attempted to recover from the pain, but by the time she had managed to stand up, recover from the sudden pain, and dash outside the blasted hole, the best she got was the sight of Eggman's hovercraft far above her in the sky flying out of view. He was already long gone, and there wouldn't be nearly enough time for her to give chase, especially not with the pain in her shoulder.

Several thoughts raced in her mind as the hovercraft turned into nothing more than a small dot on the horizon. Most of them were about the encounter she had just had with Dr. Eggman. Why had he been out here? Who were those two robots following him? One thing was for sure, though. This encounter hadn't sunk fear into her heart like it would most people – but rather it inspired a morbid curiosity, and a longing urge to seek him out even more fervently. She began making excuses in her head about his reaction to her, insisting that it was in his nature to attack as a villain or that she had somehow put him into a defensive state of mind. She could barely keep her thoughts together, and there were so many questions she wanted answered, so many things she wanted to look into.

Before all of that, though. She needed to get the hell out of this scrapyard before someone found her standing around. After all, it was only a matter of time until someone arrived to investigate the explosion, and she wasn't in the mood to be cornered in an awkward situation like this.

She would try and organize her thoughts about the encounter with Eggman as soon as she wasn't at risk of being arrested.

Rissa approached the fence once more, pulling herself back on to it again. She could feel her collarbone burning as it more or less cried in pain, begging her not to put strain on it, but she rebelled against her very own body as she pulled herself slowly, but surely up the fence, knowing that this time she'd be forced to slowly climb back down rather than throw herself to the ground.

It was painfully slow going, but eventually her feet hit the ground, and she wasted no time in fleeing from the area before the local law enforcement showed up and found her loitering.

And as she fled, she knew deep within her mind that this wouldn't be the last time she encountered Dr. Eggman. Far from it.


	5. Chapter 5

Rissa hated to admit it, but she had been developing somewhat of a fascination over Dr. Eggman as of late. Ever since she had physically encountered him, she had been determined to host a true conversation with him, even if it was brief. She wished for more somewhere deep within, but she was willing to suffice for a mere conversation is that was all she could get.

Since that day, she had grown quite secretive in her habits, and she knew people were beginning to think something was awry. It was possible they were correct, and it was even possible Rissa sort of knew this newfound fascination in a man that had lashed out at her as soon as they crossed paths might not have been the healthiest, but in all her years, Rissa had never seen a single person that spurned her curiosity more than he. While the rest of the world fled in terror from the evil of Eggman, she watched on with an interested glint in her eye.

Of course, she was not entirely unaware people were noticing her reclusive habits, as even by her standards, she knew the way she openly opted to ignore even those closest to her was suspicious. She rejected calls from her friends. She refused to log on to the internet forums she was often so invested in. Most of all, though, she knew she was behaving strangely in front of her parents, and though she had thus far been able to hide what was drawing her fascination so eagerly, she knew they were growing uneasy.

It had started back with the day Eggman attacked her. Upon returning home, she had slipped back into the house though the back yard, as her mother had no longer been outside, and as she had tried to slip back in, she had encountered her mother in the kitchen. An awkward conversation ensued as Rissa had attempted to keep her back turned to her mother while making her way back to her room, and she knew her mother had been quite aware this behavior was strange. Stranger more was the fact that the specific shirt she had been wearing that day had suddenly vanished from her wardrobe, and while her mother had accepted Rissa's explanation that she simply didn't like that shirt anymore and had chosen to get rid of it, she knew it still had looked quite odd.

Of course, the real reason she had dumped the shirt was painfully obvious to anyone aware of the circumstances. It had been torn apart by the laser strike she had taken, and there was absolutely no way she was going to explain away a hole that was clearly far more than a mere tear.

Not only that, but Rissa had been forced to hide her shoulder injury. Thankfully the physical part of the injury itself – which translated to a dark scorch mark embedded into her skin – was in a position where pretty much every single shirt she owned was able to effectively cover it, but she still had to act like it wasn't painful, or at the very least fabricate a story that she was stiff from sleeping strangely and just needed time to shake the stiffness from her core.

It had worked for the time being, and the injury was beginning to slowly fix itself as the time passed by. She was inwardly thankful it was such an easy injury to hide, because she presently couldn't think of a valid explanation for the scorch mark on her shoulder and she knew they would ask questions.

Well, her mother would. Her father honestly might just not care to have that discussion period and either yell at her and walk away, or simply the latter. It depended on his mood, really. Nonetheless, she wasn't willing to make that gamble.

She especially wasn't ready to gamble like that on her mother. She knew her mother, and while she wasn't sure how long it would take her to put the pieces of the puzzle together and realize her daughter had more or less developed a curious interest in a villainous scientist, she knew her mother would definitely not accept such an injury was perfectly normal.

For the days following after her encounter with Dr. Eggman, Rissa had attempted multiple more times to make contact with him, but she had never quite had such luck as before. Attempting to follow a man flying around in a hovercraft on foot was basically impossible lest he chose to land, which he seldom did for long. She could take a bicycle or scooter out – she personally preferred the latter – but that didn't help her keep pace much better. His vehicle still had both the advantage of being infinitely faster and not having to weave through objects littering the sidewalk or even the weaving streets themselves. No, if she wanted to confront him, she'd have to catch him on the ground, and while it might've been possible to get lucky as she had before, she found it quite unlikely.

So Rissa had started playing a rather dangerous game, a game that the military itself had been playing too, albeit for different reasons. She wanted to find out where Eggman made his home. She had already realized how likely it was that his dwelling would be quite isolated, but she had absolutely no idea what kind of a base she was looking for, or if it would even be something she could reach at all. Sure, it might be on the surface hidden among some trees or a rocky outcropping, but it could also be underground, or deep underwater. Floating in the air seemed unlikely – would've been too easy to spot – but she couldn't rule that entirely out as an option given the technology she had seen him toting. If it were skyborne, underground, or underwater, she simply wouldn't be able to reach it, so she had to hope he was just keeping it relatively hidden in a realistically reachable place. Given his adoration for attention, it might even be possible it was relatively big or obvious.

She had been observing the directions he flew off in multiple times and jotting down on a map several possible ideas for where he might be, but the most likely option seemed to be somewhere out in the ocean. She had circled a few islands nearby the city that it was possible he might be dwelling in, but it really was a gamble at this point. She couldn't drive a motorboat and there weren't many islands that would be safe for her to attempt to row to, especially since she'd take quite some time to reach them – and quite some energy too. She couldn't ask someone to drive a boat out there for her for painfully obvious reasons.

Besides, she might take a boat way out there and realize he's actually under the water, not on an island, and if that were the case, she would be far past screwed. It would be a disappointing journey home.

There was one more option, but it was expensive, and she found herself as uncomfortable with it as she did excited. On the beach of Emerald Coast was a stand to rent jet skis, and she had rented them a few times before with her friends. They were costly to rent, but they were both a faster option than a rowboat and one she could more easily control than a motorboat.

She had spent quite some time trying to talk herself into it, and even more time collecting money to rent one if she did manage to convince herself it was a good idea.

When Rissa had finally narrowed down the islands she thought Eggman might have been living on, she finally convinced herself to do it. She had more than enough money to rent a jet ski by the time she finally dedicated to that option – enough to do it quite a few times, in fact.

Rissa snatched up her map, furled it up, and shoved it under her arm as she dashed to the door. She had already grabbed a bag to stuff the money into, opting to go to a small, old purse she had used a lot when she was much younger.

Her mother was nowhere to be seen this morning, and her father was napping on the couch, so it hadn't been hard for her to grab her things and sprint out the front door. She was partially glad it had been so easy, as while she knew she could easily tell her mother she was off to the beach without any issues, she sort of preferred the fact that she wouldn't have to endure what would almost be an interview about her trip. It would've been innocent enough, but it would've bothered her, and it was far preferable to grab her things and get out the door peacefully. She was in no way required to tell her parents she was going out – her mother was just naturally inquisitive and liked to ask her if she happened to bump into her departing, and it was usually to offer a ride.

Thus she walked on her own, taking the somewhat lengthy, but rather silent walk down to the beach.

The beach was quieter than usual, and despite the fact that the temperature was just right for beach-goers, it seemed like far less than usual were active. Of course, Rissa was far from a fool, and she knew the reason Emerald Coast was struggling to bring in the sheer quantity of people it previously had. There might not have been any remains of the attack, but the memory was likely etched deep into peoples minds – the image of a giant robot climbing out of the ocean and laying waste to everything beautiful was a terrifying one, and the fact that Dr. Eggman had made his debut on this very beach was likely scaring away both the regulars and future tourists.

Heck, even the people who felt comfortable enough to take another trip down to the beach seemed somewhat wary. Quite a few simply lounged on the sands and it were almost as if those still sticking around were expecting to see another robot show itself, as unlikely as it was that Eggman would appear in the exact same beach twice.

Besides, he seemed to have other things on his mind, at least if the places Rissa had spotted him flying in and out of were any indication. The beach was likely just a path to his first attack, but she could understand why it scared people away nonetheless.

In one breath, though, Rissa kind of liked how quiet it all was. She had been to Emerald Coast quite a few times, obviously, and she was never used to seeing it quiet so silent. It was as unsettling as it was oddly relaxing.

Eventually, Rissa spotted a small stand out by its lonesome on a pier, and while she didn't read the frankly enormous sign attached to the small building, the jet skis parked next to it – alongside a decent sized boat – were more than enough of an indication for the purpose of the stand itself. She turned on to the pier, her stomach beginning to churn nervously as she approached it. It wasn't that she was afraid of driving a jet ski – she had done so before on this very beach – but rather that that prospect of what she might found out there both excited and frightened her. Dismissing the fact that she could very well just not find anything at all, which would be horribly disappointing on its own regard, it was equally as stressful to think what would happen if she did somehow find it. Approaching his base – whatever it may look like – and knocking upon his door was so taboo, and the fact that he could very well just lash out at her again being a high possibility was also rather stress inducing.

When Rissa approached the jet ski stand, she was shocked to find the person in charge was not at their post. They were nestled comfortably in a small chair in the back, dozing gently. It was quite obvious the person in charge of this renting operation hadn't seen many people.

She created a fist with her hand and knocked firmly against the counter. She tried to do so quietly at first, but as she realized how deep of a sleep this man was really in, she knocked harder to get his attention. "Hello...?"

The man groaned a little as he awakened, and he sat up slowly with a confused daze in his eyes, clearly still not wholly aware of what had woken him up at all.

"Excuse me, sir?" Rissa spoke in a gentle voice, partially uncomfortable with the prospect that she had woken him up at all.

His gaze focused on her, and thought it took him a couple moments to do the math, the realization was obvious when it finally struck him, and he perked up with a startled gasp and he noticed the eyes of this lone girl staring him down. "Oh, yes! Hello! I'm so sorry!" He got up from his seat, clearly flustered as he brushed himself off, fixed his shirt to look more presentable, and approached the counter. "I apologize for that. Ever since the incident, we're seen a lack of customers."

"Yeah, I guess a giant robot climbing out of the sea would scare away most people," Rissa chuckled in amusement, able to easily picture the event in her mind once again as she even referenced it.

"Precisely," the man exhaled. It was clear from his tone that he was both unhappy about the lack of business, but also some degree of understanding. "I didn't think we'd get any customers at all with how things were going. I was considering shutting down early for the year."

Rissa smiled, replying, "Well, I'm glad you didn't, because I'd like to rent one of your jet skis for the day."

"Oh, of course, of course," the man responded. It was clear from his tone of voice how relieved he was that someone was finally giving him some business. As he went to indicate to the prices behind him, he was taken aback as Rissa placed money on the counter already, clearly quite aware of the prices already. "Oh! You already know our prices. Wonderful." He took several moments to count what she had presented, and then reached for a set of keys on the wall. "Do you need any tips on how to operate a jet ski?"

With a shake of the head, Rissa answered, "No, no. I can handle it. I used to come down here with my friends when I was younger. I already have knowledge on operation of a jet ski."

"Wonderful, wonderful," the man responded, releasing his grip on the set of keys as he placed them upon the table in front of him. "These keys go to the bright blue jet ski furthest from us." He smiled a little. "The waters seem relatively peaceful today. I only wish more people would enjoy the chance to jet ski before it gets too cold." His smile faded as he sighed, quietly mumbling, "But I guess I understand their apprehension."

Rissa's expression shifted to one of mild concern, and the man clearly noticed it as he laughed nervously and pushed the keys closer to her.

"I'm sorry. I was just mumbling to myself. Don't worry about me. If you need to leave anything behind, you're free to make use of one of my lockers. If not, you can go on your way. The jet ski is yours for the day." It was clear as he spoke he was still somewhat upset by the lack of business, but it was equally as clear he was trying not to discuss this casually with customers, probably trying not to make them any more uncomfortable than they might've already been.

Rissa took the key sitting upon the counter in front of her, and having not brought much in the first place, she was able to easily take her seat upon the small, bright blue jet ski, and get it up and running. It growled at her as she turned the key, but her excitement took command as the jet ski raced across the water. She took it relatively quick at first, but she found herself slowing down a little as she tore deeper into the depths of the ocean. The jet ski growled at her once again as she finally eased it to a gradual stop, almost as if it were annoyed at her for daring to stop its journey. She had the map of the nearby islands stuffed into a small fanny pack around her shoulder, and she enjoyed the bobbing motion of the gentle waves flowing underneath the jet ski as she pulled this map out, checking the locations she had circled on the map. The islands were relatively far apart, with some of the smaller ones being oddly far apart from one another.

There was nothing more she could do than one by one visit the islands, which is precisely what she proceeded to do.

She tore across the waters at top speeds, slowly down as land entered her line of sight, encircling islands both large and small as she crossed each one off her list. As she cleared off each option, she began to worry more and more, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't out here after all and she was going on a needless jet ski adventure.

This wouldn't have been the first time she had guessed he would be somewhere he never showed at, and for all she knew, he was deep underneath the water somewhere she'd never have a ghost of a chance spotting him, chuckling to himself as a lone jet ski dashed by above, blissfully unaware something lurked underneath the water's surface.

She crossed off the one island, two islands, three islands. She had even visited one of the largest unnamed islands in the area, only to be greeted with nothing but trees, birds, and some partially unhappy snakes that clearly didn't welcome visitors.

She checked off the main islands.

She checked off the large islands.

She even checked off the smaller chains of islands.

As Rissa circled around the last island she had written down as a possibility and found it to be nothing more than a bunch of rocks and palm trees growing alone in the middle of nowhere, disappointment washed over her, and she exhaled sadly as she realized she was not out of options. For a few solemn seconds, she floated alone in the vibrant blue waters, staring off into the horizon at the ever-expansive ocean and pondering to herself the failure she had seen today. Those moments were when her eyes began to adjust to the sheer distance in front of her, and she swore she saw something out of place on the horizon. Was it an island, a boat, a large animal? She wasn't sure, but she knew something was absolutely out there. For all she knew, it was a lost buoy, but for one last amusement before she gave up and went home, Rissa decided to pursue the foreign object anyways.

It had seemed close enough at first, but it took her longer than she thought to reach it. However, as her jet ski bounced eagerly on the waves, her eyes lit up. In front of her was a lone island she had not been previously been aware of. It was somewhat small, with a clump of trees growing on a cliffside, but nestled comfortably in between the sheer cliff and the edge of the water itself, burrowed into the sand like a creature trying to hide itself, was a strange object.

It was a massive bright blue object jammed into the ground, and Rissa wasn't even sure what exactly it was supposed to be at first. It didn't look exactly like a building from a distance – or close up for that matter – and as she noticed the huge yellow bulbous mound of a roof top above the long blue cylinder, complete with an obnoxious antennae, it shifted from weird to suspiciously phallic in her eyes. Whatever it exactly was – building, statue, or crashed air craft – it absolutely screamed Eggman with its obnoxiously obvious design.

If it was strangely coloured and looked as though it probably shouldn't be there, there was a very solid chance it belonged to Dr. Eggman, and Rissa's heart started racing as she realized how likely it was that this questionable structure she had just discovered was Eggman's base of operations.

She brought the jet ski to a sudden halt as it skidded against the sand. She tried her best to pull the vehicle closer to the beach itself, to nestle it in a way that wouldn't isolate her on this unknown island. Once she was confident her jet ski wouldn't float off into the deep blue sea without her, she ventured across the barren, sandy beach.

Fragments of metal littered the shore, and it was clear they were parts that had shattered off this building – although Rissa still strained to call this thing a building. She considered the high possibility he had quite literally crashed this thing here, and the shards of metal scattered across the beach combined with the way the building itself seemed to be jammed into the sand at a slightly awkward angle only corroborated that theory.

The massive scope of the building was becoming more obvious as she stepped closer, its vast shadow looming over her ominously. She suddenly felt mildly unsettled – it hadn't looked this foreboding from a distance. Even more unsettling was how quiet everything was. She would've thought someone aiming to dominate the world would have highly paranoid security and be aware of her presence before she even landed on his island, but he either was completely unaware of the fact that he had visitors, or was pretending he didn't notice her. This was, of course, assuming this building actually belonged to Dr. Eggman. If it didn't, though, Rissa would eat her hat.

After encircling the building for a while, she finally spotted what appeared to be a door into the strange building, and she felt ridiculously uncomfortable as she approached it unobstructed.

Everything was silent, and she was beginning to wonder if anyone was even around at all. It felt weird to think no one remotely knew she was here, and that level of carelessness both seemed to be very inappropriate for someone aiming to conquer the world and rather telling of Eggman's innate level of confidence in himself. Either he legitimately thought no one was going to find him out here – which was total nonsense – or he was certain his fortress was impenetrable. Whichever it was, it was unsettling.

Rissa approached the large metal door and knocked firmly upon it. Her stomach churned as her fist connected with the door, as the loud bangs echoed into her ears. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, sweat dribbling down her skin. Her nerves were eating her up, and each second her only answer was foreboding silence, she grew even more on edge.

Finally she heard a voice from inside, and while she wasn't able to piece together what the voice was saying, she picked up on the fact that the voice sounded almost metallic.

The door slid open, and greeting her was a short, plump, silver robot. "Why are you knocking at this –" The robot tilted its head the slightest bit to look upon her with its sharp blue eyes, halting mid-sentence as it focused its gaze more firmly on her.

Rissa recognized the robot now. It was one of the two robots following Eggman around on that day she had encountered him in the scrap yard. It wasn't the one who had seen her outside – that was the golden one – but she remembered as she followed the golden one back inside there had been a shorter silver robot standing alongside Eggman, and this was certainly that same robot.

It seemed to be caught off guard, and though it possessed nothing more than eyes to express itself with, the shock on its face was still clear enough, even if it wasn't quite clear exactly how this robot was surprised. She was impressed to see these machines had feelings at all, as it wasn't something she expected to see – a machine showing emotional depth.

The robot stared for a few more seconds with widened eyes as it attempted to decide what to make of this event before stepping back rather suddenly and reaching over, promptly pushing a button and effectively slamming the door in Rissa's face. As the door slammed shut, she heard the voice of the robot yell, "Boss! We got a problem!" followed by rapid footsteps.

Things were silent again, and Rissa wondered if anyone was coming back at all. She waited around for a couple minutes, certain that there was no way they could just ignore a stranger hovering around on their doorstep.

"Get off my property," a voice finally echoed out from nowhere.

Rissa was startled by the sudden disembodied voice, yelping loudly and jumping for a brief moment, but she quickly realized there was probably a speaker system of some kind out here. It was definitely Eggman, but she wondered if he even put two and two together and realized who she was – assuming he was even looking at her while yelling at her.

Rissa was mere seconds from attempting to explain herself when a laser fired over her shoulder. She wasn't moving at all and yet it had missed, which indicated to her the purposeful nature of the miss. This was a warning shot. He wanted her gone.

"Wait, please, I want to talk to –"

"You have nothing I want; now get off my property or I'll blast you." It was absolutely Eggman speaking to her, and if he did realize Rissa was the same girl he met before, he certainly wasn't alluding to it.

It was unlikely, though. In fact, it was highly possible he had forgotten what she looked like mere minutes after meeting her. After all, why would he have any reason to remember the face of a girl he only met for a few minutes? He had spent most of that time taking shots at her, and she was quickly realizing that was what this situation was rapidly turning into. Except as Rissa looked up and saw the absolutely enormous weapon fixated on her position, she realized the scope of this weapon was far more massive than what he had been carrying on hand before.

She yelped in terror as she fled, the huge weapon firing off at her, this time aiming to hit her. As she scrambled down the beach in terror, the weapon fired off at her several more times, and while she had no words to describe the sound it made, the fact that it was loud and rather unnatural was enough to keep her heard pounding as she fled from it best she could.

She scrambled to push the jet ski back out into the water, her body shaking down to its very core as she climbed on to the water vehicle, turned the key, and tore off as fast as she could. Luckily, it seemed as if Eggman had stopped firing at her long before she reached the jet ski, but the image of the shots being fired at her and the massive weapons itself was more than enough to convince her to flee further and further. By the time she finally calmed down and looked back, the building was nothing more than a small dot lost on the horizon.

Rissa took several long moments to catch her breath, to calm her racing heart and remind herself that she wasn't in harm's water anymore. The jet ski teetered with the flow of the waves, and Rissa stared at the distant isolated building for a long time. She knew where he was finally, and that was as exciting as it was terrifying. She knew going back without a good reason would be foolish, but she wanted nothing more than to have a reason to go back.

Realizing she had discovered this island by total accident, she pulled out her map, found the nearest island to the one she had discovered, and etched in an arrow in the general direction Eggman's base was. Now that she knew he lived in what was basically a wreckage on the beach, she knew there was no risk of him suddenly moving locations – unless the military found him, but if that happened, it would be all over the news.

She honestly wasn't sure how nobody had found this yet. Or maybe they had found it and just weren't acting on it yet. That was always possible too.

After she marked the location of Eggman's dwelling on her map – information she knew the police would absolutely love, but she certainly wasn't sharing with them – she stuffed the map back into her fanny pack and turned her jet ski back towards the beach. She wasn't entirely sure how long she had been out on the ocean, but she knew it had to have been for quite some time, and she certainly didn't want to arouse any suspicion with her parents. She wasn't worried about the stand she rented the jet ski from, for she knew they wouldn't care as long as it came back to them before sundown and without damage, but if she returned home after dark, her parents would have lots of questions. Yes, it would be true that 'at the beach' would be an accurate answer to their question, but then it would just lead to more questions of why she was at the beach, how she was there for so long, and why she went there without any beach going items. She could formulate a story, but she'd rather just return home in time, say she was out for the day, and end it there.

She slowly brought the jet ski to a halt back at the pier, securing it in place alongside the others, removing the key, and carefully climbing back on to the pier itself.

When she approached the stand this time, the man in charge wasn't napping, though he was still not on high alert, nestled cozily into his chair with his nose buried in the local newspaper.

Rissa noticed the name of Dr. Eggman on the front page of the newspaper, and she couldn't help but lean over the ledge in an attempt to read what it said. She seldom read the newspaper, but she was curious whenever she saw that name.

She was so focused on attempted to read the newspaper that she hadn't noticed the man glancing up at her and locking his gaze onto her figure until he cheerfully said "Oh, welcome back." He lowered the newspaper and Rissa stepped back a little, embarrassed. "Is something wrong?" the man inquired curiously.

"Oh, uh, I was just trying to read the newspaper you were reading," Rissa admitted, realizing quickly there was absolutely nothing abnormal to this stranger about a person being interested in the local news.

He smiled, "Ah, this newspaper is actually outdated. I just wanted to catch up on old news." Rissa placed the key back on the counter when the man added, "I'm about done with it; would you like it?"

"Excuse me?" Rissa asked, caught off guard by his offer.

The man took his key back. "The newspaper. You said you were interested in reading it. If you'd like, I can let you have my copy. It's not the most recent one anyways, and it would make my day to know I was able to help someone else catch up on the news." He picked the newspaper up off the table behind the counter and rested the newspaper upon the counter now, pushing it towards Rissa with a friendly smile.

Rissa replied, "Oh, thank you."

The smile on the man's face widened as Rissa accepted the newspaper, nestling it under her arm. "Oh, it's the least I could do for a customer. It seems like you had a wonderful time on that jet ski. You were gone for quite some time."

"Yes, I had a lot of fun. I might have to come back some time and rent it again." She wasn't leading him on wrongly necessarily. If she ever planned to return to Eggman's base, she'd need to rent the jet ski again, as expensive as that would quickly become.

"I appreciate that, miss. Now, I hope you have a nice day, and do enjoy that newspaper," the man responded in a cheerful voice.

"Thanks a lot," Rissa thanked him, waving to him as she turned to depart.

Rissa went along her way thereafter, beginning the long walk back home. Luckily, most of her journey for the day had been via vehicle, and thus she wasn't too particularly exhausted. She had more than enough time to arrive home long before sundown would even begin, and that too gave her plenty of time to consider what had happened today and what she was going to make of this new information as well. She couldn't help but keep glancing at the map, at the arrow pointing to the island where Eggman resided, and every time she'd look at it, she'd picture the building in her mind again, see the silver robot answering the door, and it excited her. She was getting inside there one way or another. She had to. She was too deeply invested now.


	6. Chapter 6

The night time still hadn't surrendered to the sunlight yet, and the moon still lit up the night sky with a haunting glow. Station Square didn't go quiet at night, but rather it played host to its own unique population of night owls. At all hours cars could be heart zipping by, delivering a fond reminder that no matter what time ticked peacefully on your clock, and irregardless of whether the sun or moon controlled the sky, people would always be active.

Rissa was awake, and the dim glow of her desk lamp was all that indicated this to a passerby. She hadn't been awake the entire night, but if one had attempted to get answers on when she had slept or how long she had slept, she wouldn't have been able to say for sure. The events of the prior day just kept coming to her, and even when she'd attempt to lie down and sleep, she would live them once more. It made her excited, caused her heart to race in her chest, and suddenly she'd sit up in bed as the energy was enough to jolt her awake.

She tilted her gaze to the clock sitting on her nightstand. The faded red light flickered at her, indicating to her that it was a quarter past five. It wouldn't be too long before morning came, and once the sun bathed the sky in its beautiful light, she knew sleep would be impossible. She sighed as she tilted her head towards the window for a fleeting second, staring into the darkness as her thoughts raced all over again.

She had been woken up once again by that dream. This was the third time tonight, and it was always the exact same dream. Sure, she was only reliving that trip to that little island, but it was still exhilarating. Her mind would wander, questions and concerns would pelt her one after another.

Did anyone else know that building was there?

How could she make her way into it without straight up breaking in?

How could she get Eggman to notice her?

She couldn't even believe how easily she had tracked it down. Sure, it had taken most of the day, but considering what he had been doing since his arrival in Station Square, the fact that a mere girl wandering the oceans on a jet ski with very little proof she was even looking in the right area managed to find it that quickly was already way more than she could've hoped for.

Rissa leaned her elbows on the desk in front of her, only to bump them against a piece of paper. She glanced over to see what she had nudged against, only to spot a white blur slide swiftly off the side of the table. She sighed vividly as she leaned over in her chair to retrieve the fallen object, only to spot that upon the floor was a jumbled mess of newspaper.

She had almost forgotten about the newspaper the man running the jet ski rental stand had given her. Her thoughts had been so active on the way home, that she admittedly had kinda forgotten she was even carrying it. She vaguely remembered placing it on the table, but she couldn't believe she had never even bothered to check it out. She flattened out the paper, carefully putting them back in their place as she attempted to relocate the story she had been looking for in the first place.

Naturally, a story about Dr. Eggman was front page material, so it only took a simple flip of the paper to spot the story. The story was headlined "Dr. Eggman attempts to steal unknown emerald" and directly below that headline was a photo of a large green jewel buried in the dirt. Though Rissa would've described the shape of the stone itself more akin to a diamond, the colour itself was definitely like an emerald. She initially didn't need to question why Eggman would have attempted to pilfer such a jewel, as a stone that big surely had to be worth quite a pretty penny, but as she read further into the article, she began to wonder if the jewel was more than just massively valuable.

"Several days ago, a massive diamond-shaped jewel was discovered at a local construction site by the one of the staff members on duty. Though by appearances it seems to be nothing more than a large jewel, when the machines came into contact with the stone, it would let out a vibrant flash of light. The energy put out by the jewel, though its origins are unknown, caused technology big and small to go completely haywire. The workers on site were forced to evacuate after one of their bulldozers went haywire, seeming to develop a mind of its own as the energy caused it to wildly fly out of control. The situation was eventually calmed, though many television stations flocked to get footage of the strange jewel. Due to the unknown nature of the jewel, no attempts were made to remove it from the site and those arriving to see it were discouraged from approaching it. However, after the construction site was evacuated, and after many news crews finally packed up their things and went home, eyewitnesses report seeing Dr. Eggman arrive on the scene, attempting to claim the jewel for himself. The reason he was after this jewel is unknown, and thought he was seen carrying the jewel, reports also say he was unsuccessful in making off with it. Several witnesses claimed they say a child struggling to take the jewel from Dr. Eggman. The child is unharmed, as Sonic the Hedgehog arrived on the scene to prevent any harm from coming to him, though due to the swift nature of the hedgehog, and the fact that none of our witnesses seemed to know the identity of this child, it unfortunately means the whereabouts of the strange emerald are unknown."

After the article was a request to call in if any information was known about the emerald or its whereabouts, followed by a number that almost certainly was just the number of whatever company wrote or published the article.

It was painfully evident to Rissa that this was no ordinary jewel, and though she definitely couldn't even begin to explain what it was or what it did, it was clear to her now Dr. Eggman didn't just want it for its value.

Her heart lit up. This was something she could work with. She now knew Eggman wanted this odd jewel in his possession. Unfortunately, as soon as excitement raced into her heart, so did a feeling of great weight.

Sonic probably had it, and if Eggman couldn't deal with Sonic with his massively powerful robots, how in the world was she supposed to? Even catching up to Sonic would be impossible, but even if by some mystical power she managed to catch up with him, it wasn't as if she had a game plan from there. What would she even do? She couldn't just ask for it. That would be incredibly stupid.

Then it hit her.

Sonic had been seen interacting with kids before, and she knew that this meant he had to be living somewhere in town, hiding out in someone's house. She just needed to find out what family he was living alongside, and she knew exactly how to achieve such a thing.

Rissa leaped to her feet, flinging the newspaper back on her desk as she ran to her closet to begin getting ready for the day. She had to make another trip, and she wanted to make sure she wouldn't stand out too badly when she chose to do so.

~ ~ ~

By the time Rissa was walking out the door, the sun was shining in the sky. She had just waved farewell to her mother as she stepped outdoors. She was precisely on schedule, and she had given herself more than enough time to make the walk to her destination. As she walked down the street, multiple vehicles passed her by, mostly commonly school buses.

Part of her felt wrong for everything she was planning to do right now. Not only was she quite literally skipping school herself to go on this excursion, but she was not so fondly reminded by the school buses racing past her that she was skipping school to go spy on middle school children. It was a completely separate building from the school she went to, and part of her felt out of place spying on kids as young as eleven.

Still, as she approached the school yard and looked upon it, watching as much younger kids swarmed among one another, she knew it was too late to go back. She had to keep her cool, make sure not to look suspicious. After all, it was possible people would just think at first that she was an older sibling watching to make sure her little brother or sister made it into school safely – as long as she didn't stick around too long, that was.

She wasn't quite sure exactly what to even look for besides maybe some kids talking about Sonic. It wasn't as though a bipedal animal was going to just waltz into school alongside a child.

Rissa nervously took several steps back as what appeared to be a small limo pulled up. Obviously some rich kid. She made sure not to linger close enough to appear out of place, taking several steps back and watching silently as a moderately sized man in full black stepped from the vehicle, opening the door for the occupant of the vehicle and bowing to him as he stepped out.

Quietly she observed that the sole person to step out of the car was a younger boy, probably around twelve years of age. He was dressed in a red and white t-shirt with a black undershirt and navy pants. He brushed the strands of his auburn hair out of his eyes as he looked into the sunlight, eyes beaming in excitement. Rissa was mildly familiar with this kid as the son of the wealthy Thorndyke family. Mother was an actor, father was a businessman – real fancy sorts. She had never interacted with them, but she so often heard of them on television. The name of their son slipped under her radar, but she was at least some level of familiar with the kid.

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Tanaka," the kid beamed cheerfully as he turned to face the adult that had opened the car door for him.

"You needn't thank me, Christopher. Of course I'll always give you a ride," the gentleman, evidently named Tanaka, replied politely. Ah yes, Christopher was his name.

Rissa stepped back a little more. Still in listening range, but keeping enough of a distance to not appear like she was actively going out of her way to listen to them.

"I better get going. Don't wanna be late for class," Chris replied with an eager bounce, waving to Tanaka as he dashed off. As his master dashed away, the butler climbed back into the vehicle, but Rissa's gaze followed the child instead, and she was certainly glad she did.

"Yo! How's it goin' dude?" an unknown voice called, and Rissa glanced over just in time to see the strangest looking kid ever racing up to meet Chris with a high five.

Words could barely describe this child, and Rissa was almost immediately convinced that whatever she was looking at was not even remotely a human child. Whoever or whatever this being was, he had attempted to poorly disguise himself to fit in, and given the weird looks other kids were giving him as they passed by, it was very evident that Rissa was far from the only one who saw something wrong with what appeared to be a furred child. The child was dressed in full blue and had the hood of his hoodie pulled up over his head, but really all it did was making him look normal from the back. From the front it was clear something was off about him.

Rissa assumed he was an animal of some kind, and if that was the case, it was almost certain he was associated with Sonic. Thus, she inched a little closer to listen.

"Everest? What are you doing here?" Chris asked the odd child in confusion, clearly not expecting to see this person visiting – though also evidently familiar with him.

The kid, who's name was apparently Everest, stretched casually, clearly not all that concerned with his physical appearance being outlandish. "It gets totally boring sitting at home all day. I thought I'd come check out what this school is all about. I gotta do something. Sitting around is maddening."

"Don't you think you stick out a little?" Chris questioned Everest, clearly trying to keep his voice down.

"What do you mean?" Everest inquired. Rissa found it hard to believe he was ignorant to his outlandish appearance, and it was clear by the expression Chris was making that she was far from the only one.

Chris politely responded, "You kinda don't look like a human. At all."

"What? Nah, bro, it'll be totally cool, trust me," Everest confidently answered, putting his hands behind his head and resting the back of his head upon his own hands. "No one will mind me. You can show me around, introduce me to your pals and the teach." Chris looked unconvinced, and Everest let up on his casual stance. "Come on bro, you gotta help me out. Sonic goes out all the time, and I wanna find some way to be out there too."

Aha! There was Sonic's name.

Chris looked tense, and he inched closer to Everest as he replied, "Do you have to? Shouldn't you be out looking for the emeralds with Sonic? I have to go to school. You don't."

"I ain't fast enough to keep up with him. You know this, man. Come on, I know I'll be totally popular here, and maybe it'll help me get a grip on what you humans do in school and whatnot."

Chris sighed, "Fine, but just stay close to me and please try not to do anything I couldn't do."

"Got it, got it!" Everest cheerfully cried in response.

Rissa didn't need to hear anymore, and she felt many levels of satisfied as she backed away and finally put a more normal distance between herself and these children. Not only did she now know exactly where Sonic was staying, but she even had confirmation that Sonic did indeed have this emerald in his possession. She felt giddy inside as she repeated this information in her head, and she had never been more sure of what she had to do now. She turned on her heel, racing away from the school on foot. She had a destination in mind, and if ever she had been unsure about making poor choices, this was definitely not one of those instances. In fact, not only was she feeling nothing but excitement as she raced down the street, but she was already contemplating how she was even going to pull this off. Part of her brain felt ridiculous as she considered the illegal things she was plotting to do, but the other part of her didn't even care. All she could think about was holding that strange emerald in her hands, and that was more than enough to propel her each step of the way there.

~ ~ ~

She had taken a few wrong turns, but eventually the famous Thorndyke mansion towards beautifully in front of her – or rather, the fence surrounding it did. The estate was absolutely massive, and she felt mildly intimidated by the enormous wall towering in front of her. She knew this would be no easy endeavor, but she had come this far, and she'd be damned if she was going to just turn around and go home after all of this.

She had skipped school for this.

She had listened in on children to get this information.

She was going for it.

The first problem she had to solve was a literal wall to scale. Though the gate itself was the only place that would actually give her something to grip on to, it was also the place she was almost certain to be spotted. She was at least comfortable in the knowledge that it seemed like there wasn't much security around here, which struck her as odd, but not anymore so than the fact that Eggman appeared to have almost no security. She wasn't complaining, of course, just mildly confused. From her angle, it appeared as if it was nothing more than a massive wall and she'd either have to find a way to scale the wall itself, or risk going for the gate and hoping no one was watching. The latter seemed insanely foolish, but the former didn't even seem possible at all. Part of her wished she had prepared better, but then her mind reminded her it wasn't as if she had been planning to scale the wall of a wealthy person's home today.

Rissa really had nothing on her person to work with – just some money and a map – so it seemed like the choice was cemented.

She swallowed nervously as she stepped up to the gate, lingering in case a camera was secretly watching her and suddenly a voice would call out to ask what she was here for. However, when she stepped up to the gate and no such event occurred, she placed a hand on the cold metal gate and grasped it firmly as she pulled herself up.

This was completely unlike scaling the fence at the scrapyard. The chain link fence there had provided her with plenty of foot holds. The gate here, however, consisted only of vertical bars, and the only way she could keep herself in place was to awkwardly bend her foot in such a manner that the indentation of her shoe would get caught on the bar. Each time she made a little more progress, her heart pumped in her chest, her lungs hissing at her how stupid of an idea this was. This was so much more difficult, and she nearly let out a yowl as her foot slipped. She firmly held on to the bar, preventing herself from losing too much height as she regained her composure. Each second was a battle on her body, and she also had to contend with the fear that if someone spotted her now, there was no way she could casually play this off. She felt relief wash over her as she finally gripped the top of the gate, pulling herself up to the opening and over the side. She dangled herself over the ledge before letting go, and though the impact was startling, she felt little more than a few seconds of her muscles tightening up.

Her mind was racing as the realization that she was on the other side of the gate hit her, and she quickly raced to leap into the nearest bushes to avoid being spotted.

Rissa took a few moments to relax her body and mind, letting the adrenaline of what she had just done cool down a little before she began slinking through the bushes to approach the mansion.

So far so good. It seemed as if nobody knew she was even here.

Thank goodness for lax security.

Rissa finally managed to get close to the house, but she froze in the bushes as she heard a female voice yowl, "Sonic! Don't go!"

Rissa looked just in time to see a blue blur tear off across the yard, and she was thankful that the blur himself hadn't noticed she was present.

"Agh!" the unknown female voice growled in frustration. "Why does he always just run off like that?"

Rissa kept still, for another voice, this one appearing to belong to a younger male, responded, "Amy, you know how he is. Sonic doesn't like sitting still. I'm sure he'll return later."

"I want him to return now," the female, who was apparently Amy, huffed stubbornly in response.

The younger male sighed just loud enough to be heard, then replied, "Why don't we go hang out with Chuck for a while? Maybe that will get your mind off Sonic. Besides, when Chris gets home, we can go out looking for Chaos Emeralds with him."

Amy begrudgingly replied, "Fine."

Rissa waited until the footsteps went away before she even considered moving. There it was again, the mention of emeralds – specifically calling them Chaos Emeralds. She wasn't sure what exactly they meant by chaos, but every time she heard the word emerald her spine tingled. She didn't know what these emeralds even were, but she knew more than ever she wanted to hold it in her hands, and that whatever it was, she would find it in this home.

Finally, Rissa hazarded a glance over the window sill, looking into what appeared to be a living room. Chairs and tables dotted the room, a lavish fireplace presenting itself as the beautiful centerpiece of it all. A single person was in the room, a rather large woman with her back turned to the window. All Rissa could see from this angle was that the women was wearing mostly baby blue and had rather thick, but short brown hair. What Rissa could tell from this angle was that the woman was dusting the house, and that lead Rissa to assume this was mostly likely the maid of the home. She was humming to herself as she dusted off each and every surface.

"Hmph," the woman huffed as she paused, placing her hands upon her hips. "Maybe with Chris finally back at school, I can get a chance to clean that horribly messy room of his. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's hiding something up there. Ah, but I think I'll clean the kitchen first. He won't be back for a while." The woman turned now, and Rissa quickly ducked back into the bushes before she was spotted. "Hmm?" Rissa froze in terror. "What in the world was that?" Rissa kept as still as possible. "Ah, probably just those squirrels again. I can't leave these windows open without those little pests thinking its an invitation into our home."

Rissa kept still as she waited. She could hear some movement, but she was terrified of peering back over the sill and coming face to face with that woman. Thankfully, as Rissa finally hazarded a look into the room, she caught sight of the woman on the other side of the room, making her way around a corner.

It was now or never, so Rissa seized hold of the window sill and yanked herself up, climbing over the ledge and making her way into the massive mansion. Almost instantly this felt so odd, to be not only inside such a massive home, but to be here without the owners even being aware of her presence. Based on the way the woman spoke, it was clear the child's room was somewhere upstairs, and she knew that was the most likely place for a precious stone to be, especially if he was being secretive about not allowing people into his room.

Rissa was seconds from making her way to the staircase on the other side of the room, but she threw herself to the floor as soon as she heard an approaching hum.

"Where did I put that duster?" the voice of the woman hummed curiously as footsteps began crossing the room.

Rissa kept herself near the ground as she kept behind a chair. She hadn't seen where the woman had left the duster, but the last thing she needed was to be found instead. Rissa tried her best to listen to where the footsteps were, and slipped around the backside of the couch as the woman passed near.

"Ah, there you are!" the woman suddenly declared.

Rissa almost panicked, but luckily the woman had spoken in a very upbeat tone of voice, so it allowed Rissa to quickly calm herself as she realized the woman was only speaking of the duster she had been hunting for. After all, no one would be that excited to see an intruder in their home. Rissa ducked around the nearest corner, entering what appeared to be a massive kitchen. There was a door on the other side of the room, and without even considering where it might lead, Rissa slipped towards it, especially as she heard footsteps drawing near and a familiar voice muttering to itself.

Luckily for Rissa, the kitchen circled back around to the living room, and she was able to slip through a hallway and make her way up the staircase. She tried to keep her steps quiet, though she feared lingering on the stairs for too long. The literal instant Rissa reached the top, she dove into the nearest room, which appeared to be a currently unused guest room.

She peered into the hall, and when she found not a soul, she risked slinking through the hall.

As Rissa was slinking through the halls, though, a door handled began to turn and Rissa quickly fled around the corner into yet another guest bedroom.

"Much better," a male voice hummed, and Rissa was able to recognize it as Tanaka, the butler who had driven Chris to school. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes, I remember."

The steps thankfully went straight past the room she was in, but she waited until they were long gone before she risked checking the hallway again. She wasn't sure where the butler had gone, but she hoped it was downstairs where he would have no chance of bumping into her.

As Rissa continued her journey through the halls of this massive mansion, she eventually found a door slightly ajar and she briefly stopped as she heard voices within.

"I just can't do it, Tails. All I can think about it Sonic," the voice of Amy whined.

The young male voice responded, and at least now she had a name to tie into the voice. "You gotta stop thinking about it. Worrying isn't going to make him come home any quicker."

"But I can't!" Amy insisted.

The voice of a much older male responded now, very calmly saying "I'm sure Sonic will be home before you know it. Heck, I'm sure you'll even feel better when Chris comes home from school."

"I doubt it," Amy whimpered, and it was evident she was stubborn in her opinion.

Rissa didn't care to hear this conversation, especially since it was evident that it was just looping over and over. There was nothing to gain from listening to this besides a mild headache, and Rissa took as short of a fraction of a second as she could to briefly glance into the room, keeping low and trying to move as little of her body into the doorway as possible. Thankfully, of the three occupants in the room, none of them were presently facing the door, and Rissa took the chance to zip past the doorway before anyone decided to give it a look.

She approached a room in the back of the hallway when behind her, she heard the voice of Tails say "Hold on a second, guys." His tone was discomforting, and Rissa yanked open the door she was nearest and dodged into the room.

The room was messy, and it was very evident this room clearly belonged to either a kid or someone who really had no clue how organization work. Rissa wasted no time looking around, though, as she was terrified that someone was coming closer. Seeing an opening, she lifted up the sheets of the bed dangling far over the edge and rolled underneath the bed, the sheets falling gently back into place just as the door opened.

"Huh..." the voice of Tails lulled in genuine confusion. "I could've sworn I had heard something." A few uncomfortable seconds passed before Rissa heard the click of the door.

Rissa slipped out from her hiding place, convinced that the room she was currently in absolutely had to belong to the kid Chris, especially given the way the maid had referred to Chris' room as being a mess at the moment. This meant one thing and one thing only. Of all places the emerald was likely to be stored, this was the most likely, and so Rissa began snooping. She pulled open each and every drawer and dug through them, rustling around the contents and opening absolutely any box she came across. When she found nothing, she began to fret, but she took a step back and tried to think like a child again, and how she would hide things if she didn't want her parents finding them.

Thus, Rissa found herself on the ground again, hazarding a second check under the bed. Sure enough, Rissa had missed something on her original trip underneath there, and nestled in the corner near the head of the bed was a lone box. She snatched the box, pulling it out into the open and holding it firmly with a single hand as she pulled the lid off.

Her eyes lit up with pure excitement, for sitting all by itself lonesome in the box was a large green diamond-shaped jewel. It glowed with an energy unlike any other, and she felt such a level of awe as she gazed upon its beauty. She let out an amazed gasp as she held the emerald in her hands. "Ahh!" she exhaled without even thinking.

Rissa panicked instantly as she heard footsteps rapidly approaching the room, and she realized her exhilaration might've been a tad too loud. She panicked almost immediately, and scanned the room for an escape. The only other method out was a window, and she couldn't even believe she would consider it. Yet, as she realized she had maybe ten seconds before the door burst open, she rushed over and pulled herself up anyways, dangling nervously over the ledge for a few seconds before finally dropping into the bushes below. It stung – bad – but nothing was broken.

"I know I heard something!" the voice of Tails insisted above her, and it was evident he was close to the window.

Still, if Tails had truly heard her, he clearly hadn't seen her throw herself out the window, and eventually Rissa was able to pull herself to her feet and make her escape. She had this strange jewel – this supposed Chaos Emerald – in her grasp now, and she knew exactly what had to be done with it. She could almost feel its warmth, feel her heart pounding.

"It's finally time, Eggman. I finally have something you want."


	7. Chapter 7

Everything felt suddenly so different to Rissa, an excitement blasting deep into her heart unlike any other. The realization of what she was attempting to achieve was hitting her like a ton of bricks, the possible ramifications of what she had already done lashing at her like a hissing snake. She already knew by climbing over that wall that what she was doing was some level of illegal, as was stealing the odd emerald from that homestead, but none of that held a candle to the end goal. The repercussions for those actions would be mild compared to what she was considering next. She knew this. She was far from blind to it.

Eggman was attempting to take over the city, regularly launching massive scale attacks with highly destructive robots. He was effectively a highly technologically advanced terrorist, and by showing up to his headquarters and handing over a tool he needed for such a conquest, Rissa would effectively be branding herself an accomplice. She could never go back from such a massive choice, assuming he welcomed her in at all.

She had no idea the power of this item – the Chaos Emerald was it was apparently called – and she was seriously considering handing it over to a man who had exclusively approached not just her, but really everyone, with extreme violence.

Oh, who was she kidding? She wasn't considering it. This stopped being a consideration when she broke into a celebrity houseland.

She had already made her choice.

She kept the box tucked under her arm as she walked, and tried to organize how things might change for her if Eggman accepted her gift – assuming he didn't just snatch it, blast her, and move on, which was unfortunately an outcome she had to consider as possible. Would she be found out? Would she even be able to return home at that point? She was effectively risking everything she had gotten in her entire life, her home, her family, her friends, and even her sweet little dog, but the more she thought about it, the more it almost felt like a worthy sacrifice. She'd lose the benefit of a mundane and comfortable existence, but what if she found so much more? The possibility for exhilaration and even possible knowledge unlike any other was too much to ignore.

All her life she had been comfortable hiding in the background, avoiding social interaction and curiously pondering what being in the spotlight would be like, how anyone could actively seek such attention. Now here she was, possibly drawing a spotlight to herself all in the name of entertaining a man she had no reason to do anything but hide from – and she liked it.

Heck, even the act of sneaking into the Thorndyke mansion and slipping out unnoticed with the Chaos Emerald had been exciting. The possibility of getting caught, the feeling of holding success in your arms, the sensation of having overcome a challenge unnoticed... it was all a short, but amazing rush.

Already Rissa could see she was looking at the world in a different light. She pondered if people knew what she had done as she stepped past them, clutched the box as close to her as possible for worry someone might somehow know what she was carrying within. She found herself attempting to avoid the paths of other city dwellers, hoping to continue on without any questions. Even now she was formulating likely unnecessary excuses for what was in the box if anyone were to ask, as well as excuses for why she wasn't in school. Her mind was attempting to manipulate the system, and it felt as natural as it did rather sinister.

Soon the beach was in sight. It had grown a little more active since the incident with Eggman had occurred, as people were beginning to grow a little more accepting of the situation they were in encountering constant news about the man all over the city, but it was still far less active than usual, so while people may have been adapting, it was pretty evident there was still some level of fear, some degree of concern. It may have been normal to hear about Eggman's latest robotic attack, but that didn't necessarily alleviate the fear around it.

It was very likely some people had even grown fearful of leaving their home, though Rissa was far from one of those. If anything, she had never left home nearly as much before as she did now. She also had to remind herself, however, that not everyone was as inherently fascinated by Eggman as she was. They were mostly either fascinated by Sonic, or wanted everyone to pack up their bags and go home, the latter which Rissa found highly unlikely to occur.

Eggman had a base of operations – even if it was almost certainly something he just crash landed on that island. He was regularly planning attacks under his goal of domination. Eggman was absolutely here to stay, and if the villain stayed, then it was most assured the hero would be staying too. If Eggman didn't go, Sonic would likely never go either.

People had to accept that eventually, adapt to it in their own ways. Rissa found it highly unlikely anyone would consider her manner of adaptation healthy, though. It was far from it. It was dangerous, illegal, and many would argue foolish, but it was what she was doing and no one would change her mind.

She had accepted this as she stepped on to the pier, and she was ready to accept she might never get to go back as she approached the jet ski rental once more.

"Good morning," Rissa greeted the man behind the counter, who was once again curled up on his own with the local newspaper.

He glanced up, a bright gleam in his eyes as he recognized the girl waiting at the counter. "Oh, you're back already, I see! I didn't expect to see you return so soon."

Rissa had already chosen her excuses for her situation, and she decided to play them casually before they even became a possible issue. "Well, I still got plenty of free time this summer, so I figured I'd seize another opportunity to come down to the beach, enjoy the jet skis while the kids are all in school."

"Quite true," the man responded with a smile, leaning forward. "The teens seem to have gotten more comfortable coming around here lately, and I usually see a few groups linger around after school hours. Its unfortunately relatively quiet during the school hours, though."

"I guess teens are more daring that most adults, huh?" Rissa mused with a laugh.

"Well, some call it daring. Others would argue that stupid is probably a better word. At the very least, risky," replied the man.

Rissa shrugged as she pawed in her bag for the money. "Maybe, but there haven't been any incidents on this beach since the first one. People can't just avoid everywhere a crime eventually happened. Its unlikely another attack will occur here anyways. There's not much here but sand and water. The benefits of attacking a place like this would be mild at best.

"That was my assumption, yeah," the man responded with an upbeat leap. "It seemed to me more like this was just the accidental launching spot for his arrival." He leaned on the counter in front of him. "I do genuinely hope this place remains free of further attacks. With any luck next summer we'll see the same level of crowds as usual. Maybe people will have just forgotten about it, or at least mellowed to the idea."

Finally locating the money, Rissa placed it upon the counter. "Everyone adapts at their own pace, I guess. Give them time. They'll mellow eventually." She pushed the money closer. "I'll rent one all day again."

"Oh, excellent!" The man pushed a set of keys near her when he happened to shift in expression, and Rissa felt a mild discomfort as his eyes fixated on the box. "Noticed you're carrying that large box around. You can leave it here."

Rissa shuffled nervously, realizing it was rather odd of her to want to attempt to drive a jet ski while holding a large box. "Oh, this. I – uh – know this is gonna sound kind of odd, but I actually need to have this box with me."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's in the box?" the man inquired, and thought his tone was very innocent, Rissa still couldn't help but feel intruded upon. "It seems like nothing more than an old shoe box."

"Nothing right now," Rissa responded, more than ready with an excuse for why she was holding this box. "I like visiting the sandbars and seeing if anything odd has washed up. Mostly I just end up collecting shells, but you never know for sure, and its so much more peaceful to hunt the shallows out there."

"Oh! That's why you go out there for so long, huh?" It seemed as if Rissa's excuse had been accepted.

Rissa nodded. "Indeed. I was hoping to have more room to haul things back with me this time. Not much fits in my little pack."

"Hold on a second, then," the man chirped as he placed his hand back over the keys, moving into the back of the little enclosure and swapping them with a different set of keys. "See the big black jet ski off by itself over there?" Rissa glanced, nodding as she noticed it. "It has a front end storage compartment. If you're going to be towing this box around with you, you can use the compartment to safely stow the box away so it won't get in the way. Attempting to drive a jet ski one-handed is unsafe, and if you try and balance that box on your lap, you'll likely lose it once you pick up some speed."

Rissa's eyes lit up a little. "Oh, thank you!" She picked up the keys.

The man bowed his head. "No problem. Now, you enjoy yourself. Good luck on your endeavors"

It was the closest thing Rissa was ever going to get to anyone encouraging her this was a good idea, even if the man was only accidentally encouraging her by being just vague enough to be taken out of context. Nonetheless, it somehow felt some level of comforting, and Rissa decided it was still something. She felt a little more confident as she stepped up to the lone jet ski.

It took her a few moments to locate the handle to open the compartment, but when she finally did, it felt oddly satisfying to stow the little box inside and seal it shut. For a brief moment, Rissa fretted that the Chaos Emerald might react to the jet ski, as the articles she had read indicated that it had an adverse effect on technology. However, the jet ski seemed to remain fully calm, and while Rissa seriously doubted a mere cardboard box was enough to deter such a powerful stone, she was willing to feign ignorance and go with it. Thus she mounted the jet ski, and began making her way out into the ocean depths to confront Eggman once more.

Admittedly, Rissa made a few wrong turns, as this far out from shore, everything began to look the same, but with a few glances to the map, she was finally able to spot the island.

There it was. The odd structure started to come into her field of view, and she felt almost like she was shaking as she neared the island. It grew closer and closer, the details on shore revealing themselves, the sand building up to solid land. She was still shaking.

Odd, actually. It genuinely felt like she was shaking... badly. It was an uncanny level of shaking.

Then it hit her. That wasn't her body shaking. It was the jet ski itself. The entire jet ski was jutting against the ocean waves, letting out a growing hissing sound. Panic entered her system, and she realized the very event she had passed aside as apparently not a concern was very much a concern!

The front half of the jet ski was vibrating heavily and a green glow began to penetrate the shell. The Chaos Emerald was reacting, and Rissa needed to separate the two as soon as possible. It was difficult to get a grip on the hatch for the storage compartment as it shook, but once she unlatched it, the door nearly threw itself open. She seized hold of the box, tearing it out of the compartment. The rumbling only calmed a little, and Rissa decided she needed to get away from this jet ski immediately!

Rissa leaped onto the shore, getting her ankles wet as she landed in some water. She tore herself and the box away from the jet ski, fleeing onto the sandy shores as the rattling relaxed and the green shine dissipated.

It seemed to have stopped. Thankfully.

As quickly as the excitement reared up did it die down. It appeared as though the incident she had just experienced had either gone unnoticed by the resident of this island, or he was doing a really good job at pretending he wasn't watching her. Regardless, the beach shore was eerily silent, with only the sounds of waves crashing against the shore's edge to keep her company. An ominous feeling crept its way into her spine, nestling with a satisfied exhale deep within.

She wasn't sure what she was feeling. Fear? Worry? Concern? Whatever it was, it suddenly felt unsettling, and a tiny voice nipped at her and hissed that maybe she should turn away while she still had the chance.

In all seriousness, though, did Rissa even have the chance anymore. Realistically, yes, she very well could just walk away. She could just mount the jet ski again and go about her business, but what about the emerald? Her fingerprints were all over the box, as well as its contents, and she couldn't exactly keep the thing in her own house. It was obvious, and if Eggman didn't come hunting for it first, either Sonic or the military surely would, and none of those would be pleasant to explain how she got this item in the first place to. No, one way or another, this had to be done, and she knew it.

Not that she was really considering walking away at this point. Sure, she toyed with the possibility of such an option, but even if the likelihood had lined up in her favour, she will would've stuck around.

Thus, Rissa approached the odd building once more, ominous silence her only companion. She let out an exhale, knew she had to be confident when approaching this situation. After feeling calm, she knocked firmly upon the door a few times before quietly waiting for someone to respond to her.

After what felt like an uncomfortably long time, the door slid open, and standing in front of her was the tall golden robot. His expression almost immediately shifted to one of annoyance, and Rissa played with the option that he might remember her in some way. The last time she had knocked here, the silver robot had answered, and he had fled back inside without a word to her.

"Can't you just go away?" the golden robot asked with an irritated exhale.

He absolutely remembered who she was.

Rissa had to stay calm, or he would absolutely just slam the door in her face. "Look, I'm sorry I came here uninvited last time, but I just want to speak with your... boss." She was unsure what exactly Eggman was to these robots, especially given the level of sentience they evidently possessed. "I brought a gift."

"Look, I'm sure you're nice and all, but the Doctor isn't really a sociable sort, and I'm sure he's not going to be interested in whatever you're carrying in that box," the golden robot explained in a surprisingly gentle voice. She was shocked to find the robot was any level of understanding or polite, though it was certainly welcome.

"Not even a Chaos Emerald?" Rissa suggested, hoping that was the correct term for the jewel she was hiding inside the box.

"No, not e–" He stopped. It was evident he had not been expecting to hear the words 'Chaos Emerald' leaving Rissa's mouth, and his expression shifted to genuine shock as she made such a bold claim. "Wait, are you being serious? Do you actually have a Chaos Emerald?" At this point, Rissa noticed the silver robot had curiously joined the scene as well, peering from behind his companion as he heard those two sacred words.

Rissa nodded. "Green diamond-shaped jewel, ultra powerful, messes up technology?"

The silver robot pushed aside his companion to make himself known. "So I did hear the words Chaos Emerald correctly, then. You actually have one? And you brought it here?"

"Why?" the golden robot inquired in confusion.

"The Doctor will want to see this for himself for sure if its really true," hummed the silver robot. "In fact, he's likely already heard your claim and is–"

Before anyone could properly react, the tall figure off Eggman quite suddenly made himself known on the scene, quite literally shoving the two robots out of the way to seize command of the door frame and loom over Rissa with a hopeful expression aglow on his face. "Let me see that!" Rissa gasped as he seized the box from her hands, prying it open and staring upon the jewel nestled comfortably within. The two robots that had been so rudely shoved aside tried to peer over the shoulders of their leader to behold the object contained within as well. It was quite evident the object was indeed exactly what they were hoping for, and all three of them seemed enamored looking upon it. Eggman's expression rapidly shifted to one of expression as he looked down upon her. "Why did you bring this here?"

"Well, the last time I was here, you told me I didn't have anything you wanted and wouldn't talk to me, so I thought maybe this would get your attention," Rissa explained, keeping hopeful about the situation. "I genuinely want to talk."

"The last time...?" Eggman clearly didn't remember her.

The golden robot spoke up. "Doctor, she was the one that intruded here yesterday."

"You also tried to shoot me in an old warehouse a few weeks ago," Rissa added.

"Oh, yes, you were here yesterday," Eggman lulled silently. "I may have forgotten about that." He quite loudly cleared his throat, startling Rissa. "However, anyone that willingly gives me a Chaos Emerald is worthy of my time in my books. Decoe, Bocoe, get her something to drink, and notify Bokkun we have a visitor." Rissa felt a light glisten deep within her core as Eggman stepped aside, welcoming her inside his headquarters, and it felt like she was stepping into a new world as she followed him inside.

She felt a wonder unlike any other hit her with a rather powerful suddenness as she followed him inside. This was a whole new experience unlike any other, and the sheer scope of it all was even more impressive than she first realized. The inside of his base was unlike the interior of any other building she had been inside before, and it was quite evident from the glistening metal walls, the gleaming lights of various technologies, and the almost futuristic atmosphere leaking from her surroundings that Eggman didn't just like technology – he lived among it. It was his lifeblood. Rissa was awed by it all, her eyes glistening in wonder like a child witnessing the sheer mass of an amusement park for the first time. She stayed put near Eggman, but it was clear she was taking in every detail of the room they were in.

"So, where in the world did someone like you even obtain a Chaos Emerald?" Eggman inquired, catching Rissa by surprise. She took a moment away from the spectacle to look upon him.

"I – uh – took it from the Thorndyke mansion. That's why its in an old shoe box. The kid was keeping it under his bed," Rissa responded, being fully honest to him about the means she used to obtain such a stone.

Eggman lit up in amusement. "Ah! Took it right out from under Sonic's nose, huh? I like you already. You're going to fit in quite well around here."

"Wait, I can stay here?" Rissa asked, the wonder she had been previously feeling now being powerfully overwhelmed by excitement stacking on top of it.

Eggman boldly nodded, placing a hand upon Rissa's shoulder. She felt an elated chill rush down her spine as he touched her. "Oh, but of course. After all, you brought me a Chaos Emerald. I'd be a fool to chase away someone so willing to help me."

Rissa wanted to say it, but considering the trouble she had gone through getting into his base in the first place, she didn't know how confident she'd feel sarcastically jabbing at him. He hadn't notice her prior comment, or at the very least hadn't taken offense to it, but she got the feeling calling him out for literally having already done that before would be pushing it a little too far.

"Now, why don't I give you a brief tour of your new home?" Eggman spoke up quite abruptly. "As I'm sure you can no doubt tell, its a rather massive facility, so I'll keep to the essential room, but know that you're welcome anywhere, long as you don't break anything. I already have Bokkun for that."

"Bokkun's job is breaking things?" Rissa meekly inquired.

Eggman sighed. "Technically not, but it certainly feels like it."

Rissa hazarded a chance to ask, "Why do you keep him around, then?"

"I'll let you know when I have a solid answer to that question," Eggman responded with a shake of the head. Rissa sensed there was more to the subject, but she also appreciated the rather lighthearted approach Eggman was taking to speaking with her, and the last thing she wanted was to ruin it. "Anyways, you already met Decoe and Bocoe. Consider them my..." He took a moment to consider the wording. "Assistants feels too generous. Let's go with incompetent servants."

"Wow, thanks Doctor," chimed the voice of the golden robot as he returned the room carrying a glass of water. His irritated expression shifted to a more welcoming one as he offered the glass to Rissa. "Here, a drink for you."

"Oh thanks uh–" Rissa realized she didn't know which was which.

"Decoe," he finished for her. "My companion is Bocoe. He's preparing a room for, miss."

Rissa took a sip of the drink, pleasantly surprised by how cold it was. "Right, Decoe. I'll remember that. The name's Rissa, by the way. Rissa Halcott."

Decoe seemed happy, and even though he could smile, Rissa could still very easily tell he was feeling happiness. She was still amazed by the idea of feeling robots. "I like Rissa already, Doctor."

Eggman completely ignored Decoe's comment, walking directly past the robot as he lead Rissa into another room. "First things first, this is where the robots I make use of are mass produced," began Eggman, leading Rissa into an absolutely massive room filled with machine parts, conveyor belts, and a ridiculous level of loud noise as machines worked to fit together the parts for several massive robots. Rissa had guessed he might be producing multiples of some of them, but seeing the production line in action was an entirely different sensation from implying it exists, or even imagining what it might look like.

Rissa moved across the room a tiny bit, her eyes lit up in absolute wonder as she watched the machines go to work. "Wow! I hypothesized you might be mass producing robots, but this is even more impressive than anything I could've ever imagined." She overlooked a conveyor attaching arms to a large white robot. "Hey! I remember this one! It was the one you were using when you first arrived here. Missile Wrist, right?"

Eggman was evidently flattered already by the praises Rissa was singing about his robot production line, but the icing on the cake seemed to be her recognizing one of his robots. "Ah, yes, E-23. You remembered his name."

Rissa smiled. "I was on the beach the day Missile Wrist rose out of the water. You were actually directly above me for a short while. It was shortly after then I began to wonder if you were mass producing robots."

"Why so?" Eggman asked.

With a shrug, Rissa responded. "I don't know, you just seemed unusually comfortable with losing such a massive robot. It felt more like something you were frustrated you'd have to replace over a genuine loss, so I considered the idea that maybe you had multiples of him, and the more I noticed you seemingly losing robots left and right, the more plausible the idea seemed."

Eggman nodded. "Indeed. But don't get the wrong idea." Rissa followed him as he walked into another room, staying close to his side. "I still don't appreciate the damage that hedgehog does to my machines one bit. As mass produced as they may be, it takes a lot of material to replace them, and I don't much enjoy having to replace them when I could instead be buffing their numbers." As he spoke, Eggman lead her into what appeared to be a lab of sorts, and while it was a very visible tonal shift from the other room, it still felt fitting for this base. "Now, this is the lab. I'm working on a very large project at this moment, and you'll get the honour of one day seeing it come to life."

Rissa was interested. "Oh? And what might that be?"

Already fully prepared to entertain her curiosity, Eggman led her to a large glass container. At first, it appeared to be little more than a massive container of simple clear liquid, but upon second examination, Rissa noticed there was a rather small, inconspicuous object contained within. It was vivid pink in colour, and Rissa was curious, and as she stepped closer, it became more clear it was some kind of creature. What exactly was outside her area of expertise, but she could make out little details on it. It had some level of anatomy, it had facial features.

"What in the world is this thing?" Rissa asked curiously. "You said its alive."

"Well, it's not fully developed yet, but effectively, yes, its a living creature," Eggman began, stepping up alongside her to examine his creation. "It will take a while to fully grow, but when alive, it will be an effective weapon to stand at our side. I have named him Bio Engineered Accellerant Mercenary – Beam for short."

"Its moving quite a lot," observed Rissa.

"Well, its about to pupate. You picked an excellent time to show up. You'll get to witness a key step in its development." Eggman explained, placing a hand on her shoulder once more. "Watch."

As if the creature saw its cue to act, the tiny eyes of the little creature suddenly squinted, and Rissa felt some level of sadness as it appeared to be in visible pain. Eggman must have sensed her concern, for his grasp on her shoulder hardened, silently communicating to her not to react any further. She watched in genuine concern as the vivid pink skin of the creature began to peel at the bottom, revealing what seemed to be a brown shell underneath. This continued for the entire body of the creature, until eventually appeared to be covered from top to bottom in this shell, including the face. It was still once more, and any semblance of pain appeared to have vanished into the ether.

"Wow..." Rissa hummed, eyes wide in amazement. "That was something else entirely."

"It's going to be a while until he's fully grown. Come. Let's leave it be." Eggman said to her, releasing his hold on her as he lead her out of the room and down another hallway. It appeared as though the two had come full circle, and they were back in the main room. "You can consider this the equivalent to a living room, though that's far from its purpose." Eggman turned away from Rissa for a moment to glance into a nearby hallway.

Rissa was giving the room another examination, and that's when she noticed the several screens on display. The main screen was covered in a grainy static that was thankfully silent on the ears. Most of the other screens appeared to display various key points outside, which Rissa found surprising as the lack of awareness Eggman appeared to have for intruders seemingly implied a total lack of such a system. So Eggman was either unobservant, or pretending he didn't notice things he was quite visibly aware of. Either way, she wasn't expecting a proper security system, but it was pleasantly comforting to see he had all sections of the beach and forest surrounding his base under observation.

There was one thing that genuinely had Rissa confused, though. It was quite evident inactive cameras displayed a static grain, so why, then was there a lone camera that appeared to be mostly pitch black in colour? It was watching something, but whatever it was pointed at existed in almost total darkness, apart from a few red lights that did absolutely nothing to translate any detail from the room. She still couldn't make out a single detail of whatever it was watching. She stepped closer, squinting in curiosity as she attempted to make sense of what was going on.

Behind her, the voice of Eggman echoed out, "Bocoe has finished preparing–" His expression shifted as he noticed Rissa appeared fixated on the cameras. "Something the matter?"

"What's with that camera?" Rissa inquired, lifting a finger and pointing at the dark camera. "Why is it watching a pitch black room with not at all creepy red lights?"

Eggman's expression shifted quite suddenly, and the tonal shift was obviously quite uncharacteristic for him. The robots standing in the back of the room nervously shifted, taking a step back and looking down at the floor, and Eggman appeared to have almost lost any level of amusement for the situation. "That's the prison."

Rissa wasn't shocked he had a prison, but she was shocked that he'd leave it in a state where you couldn't actually see anything. "But why's it in total darkness?"

Eggman's expression hardened. "Leave it alone, alright? You don't need to worry about it."

She felt very unsettled. Eggman had been upbeat, cheerful, and welcoming to her since she had first arrived, and she felt like she was now poking the bear. "Alright, and I respect that, but can you at least tell me what's in there that's so horrible?"

At first, Rissa got absolutely no response out of him. Was he afraid to answer? Was he simply considering his words? For a brief moment, she worried she might have upset him, but that was clearly not the issue, for Eggman finally put his hands together and looked her dead in the eye as he responded very simply "A demon."

Rissa felt an instantaneous chill rush down her spine. He spoke those two words with such a deathly serious coldness. It didn't feel like he believed he was exaggerating. To her, it felt like Eggman firmly believed that whatever was lurking within the darkness was truly demonic in nature, and she got absolutely nothing more out of him than this. He had stepped aside after answering her question, making a request of one of the robots, acting almost as though the conversation had never occurred. It ended after the words 'a demon' as far as Eggman appeared concerned, and that was as weird as it was unnerving. She spent several long seconds staring at the camera, hoping to see what was so demonic, but still unable to make out anything besides the red lights.

"Why don't you let Bocoe show you your new room? He's finished preparing it." It was quite obvious Eggman was done with the previous conversation, and Rissa didn't dare risk pushing at it anymore than she already had.

"Right, of course," Rissa responded, shifting her gaze to Bocoe as the small silver robot offered a hand to her. "Lead the way." Eggman silently observed as Rissa and Bocoe left the room, keeping to himself as he monitored the situation.

Mere seconds after Rissa left the room, a mild change occurred on the pitch black monitor. From within the eerie confines of darkness haunting that particular screen, a small pair of sharp red eyes lit up, briefly fixating right on the camera before vanishing back into the darkness from whence they came.


End file.
